The Dark Age: The Crystal Shards
by kratos lover1
Summary: A new Storm story. This is the first part of the Dark Age series. Prepare as the peaceful world of Symphonia is thrust into a dark age with a new villain trying to revive a great evil. StormxZelos, SheenaxLloyd...and more. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: 13 Years Later

I'm so excited. It's time for a brand new story. Actually, this is like a series. The whole series is actually called _The Dark Age_, but there are smaller stories in it. So, get ready, these stories will be a lot darker than some of my other ones. I really hope you enjoy it. I need to thank Kararu Rinamino for all of her help with this story. Thank you, thank you. Also, thanks to everyone who is excited to read this, it's because of you that these Storm stories keep coming out. Well, here's the first story of _The Dark Age. _Before I begin I have the disclaimer and then I have a list of the ages of all of the known characters. After characters are introduced I will put down their age in the following chapter. Okay, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Tales of Symphonia. I do own Storm, she is my own original character. I also own any of the original characters which may show up anytime in this story. Kararu Rinamino also deserves credit with all of the characters that make their first appearance in this story.

Ages:

Storm: 32 (looks 18)

Zelos: 38

Lloyd: 33

Sheena: 35

Raine: 39

Presea: 44 (looks 28)

Genis: 28

Regal: 49

Colette: 32

Kratos: over 4000

Yuan: over 4000

Anna: 13

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Chapter 1: 13 years later

Storm couldn't believe it, Anna had come home with a referral from her teacher, again. She was getting really tired of having to deal with Anna's teacher. This would be the third time this month that she had to go in and take care of the mess Anna had caused.

"So, what did you do this time?" Storm asked her daughter who was sitting on the couch with a sort of non-caring look about her. Anna rolled her eyes at her mother's question before replying.

"It was that same girl from last time, you know, Jodi. I had just met this really awesome guy, he was so hot. I almost had a date and she came along and started flirting with him. She was flirting with him because I was with him. She hates me. I can't stand her stealing my men," Anna replied, her voice getting angrier with each sentence.

Anna may have looked a lot like Storm, but she was Zelos' daughter. Anna looked so much like Storm in the face it was remarkable. Her eyes were a beautiful hazel that showed off all of her feelings to the world, just like Storm's. She had beautiful auburn hair like her grandfather's, but it was not messy like his or Storm's. Anna's hair always managed to flow beautifully down her shoulders. Anna was very beautiful and was very popular among the boys at school, causing many girls to dislike her. Anna managed to remain extremely popular despite her ability to steal men away from all the girls. Anna loved the attention that she got from boys and would often get into fights with other girls over them, like in this case. Anna was too stubborn and hard-headed to give in to anyone, a trait she picked up from her mother, to allow anyone to steal her men, so she would just pick fights.

"Anna, how many times are you going to pick a fight with her?" Storm asked as she let out a large sigh.

"I'll keep it up until she quits stealing my men," Anna yelled back at her mother, trying to make it seem like she was the victim.

"Anna! You're thirteen, you shouldn't have men to worry about," Storm yelled back at her.

"It's not my fault that they're all drawn to my beauty," Anna boasted.

Storm wished that Anna wouldn't have picked up one of Zelos' worst traits. Of course, she didn't want to tell Anna that part of the reason the boys came over to Anna's house was to meet up with Storm. Storm looked exactly like she had when she was eighteen and the boys were somehow attracted to her as well as her daughter. Zelos was caught somewhere in between with this whole problem. He was happy that his daughter was popular with the opposite gender, but at the same time he was always trying to keep every boy away from his daughter.

"Well, how bad is the damage this time?" Storm asked hesitantly.

"Bloody nose, black eye, sprained arm," Anna listed.

Storm was thankful that Anna hadn't developed any powers yet. She was beginning to think that Anna was destined to be a normal human, something Storm had always prayed for. It was a good thing too, with angelic powers she would cause a lot more damage. Storm and all the others had decided to keep their powers a secret from their children, something still didn't know about. Kratos had been giving her sword lessons lately, but Anna knew nothing of Storm's angelic powers. Storm would often go out while Anna was at school to use her powers and defeat monsters at the outskirts of the city. She couldn't help but release some of the powers that built up in her.

"Anna!" Storm yelled at her.

"It's not my fault that she can't fight," Anna mumbled as she turned away from her mother. Before Storm could say anything there was a knock at the door. Storm went over to answer it and was greeted by Sheena.

"Sheena, come on in," Storm said. Sheena stepped inside and was followed by two children who both ran over by Anna.

"Hi Anna," a young girl said in a shrill voice.

"Martel, please use a quieter voice inside the house," Sheena told her.

"Mommy, I was just talking," Martel replied sharply. Martel was an adorable eight year old girl. She had long black hair, like her mother's that she wore in a bun and reddish brown eyes like her father. She wore a purple outfit that was made by Sheena to show off her Mizuhoan roots. She was in training to be a ninja, using not only the cards that her mother gave her, but also the swords that her father gave her. Sheena thought that Martel also had the power to one day become a summoner, but she wasn't sure of it yet.

"Be quiet Martel, you're just a whiny brat," a young boy commented.

"Kagerou, please don't make fun of your sister," Sheena sighed.

"Well, it's true," Kagerou shot back. Kagerou was Sheena and Lloyd's ten year old son. He had spiky brown hair like his father with brown eyes. He wore a red Mizuhoan ninja outfit also made by Sheena. He was also trained to fight with cards and swords. He did not seem to have the same potential for the summoning arts that Martel showed, but then again Sheena could be wrong about that.

"I did not," Martel cried.

"You're so obnoxious," Kagerou yelled at her.

"Well, you're a big fat jerk," Martel yelled back.

"Kids, stop it right now or I'll get Grandpa and Dad," Sheena threatened.

The two immediately stopped and looked at Sheena, flashing their best innocent smiles. Sheena, just happy to have them silent for a few moments decided to take a seat in the parlor.

"So, where's Lloyd at?" Storm asked.

"He was going to come here after he got some business in Mizuho finished. He was almost done, he should be here soon," Sheena replied. "So, how are things here?" Sheena asked.

Storm sighed before looking over at Anna who was engaged in some sort of conversation with Martel and Kagerou. "Anna got into another fight," Storm replied.

"Again? Was it with another girl, over another guy?" Sheena asked.

"Yeah, what am I supposed to do with her?" Storm asked.

"You could always cast Judgement on her," Sheena joked.

"I don't think that people would be too thrilled if I did that," Storm replied. "Why did she have to pick up Zelos' bad qualities?"

"I'm sure this is just a phase, she'll grow out of it," Sheena tried to comfort her.

"Maybe we don't talk enough. Maybe I should tell her the truth about myself," Storm told her.

"That's up to you, she'll figure it out eventually. I would tell her now before she finds out some other way. She'll begin to wonder why she's aging and you're not," Sheena told her.

"You're right, I will tell her," Storm replied.

Suddenly, the whole group heard a loud explosion come from outside. Storm and Sheena immediately ran out of the house to see what was going on. They kept the children inside the house when they saw what was taking place right outside of their house. All Anna and her cousins could hear was the sounds of fire, explosions, and screaming outside as their mothers looked outside in horror.

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All right, that's where I'm stopping today. Oh boy, a cliffie at the end of the first chapter. Well, tell me what you thought. Get ready for the action and as I said before, prepare for the takeover. Here we go. Please review and tell me what you thought. 


	2. Chapter 2: Under Attack

Yay, update time. I know that I left you all on a cliffie, be prepared that may happen a lot in this story. Anyway, I have the list of ages of the two new characters and then I'll start the chapter. Enjoy!

Kagerou: 10

Martel: 8

* * *

Chapter 2: Under Attack

Storm and Sheena couldn't believe what they were seeing. There were buildings on fire all over Meltokio and they saw people fleeing for their lives all over the city. It was utter chaos all over the place and Storm and Sheena had never seen anything like what they were looking at. They couldn't help but freeze where they were at as they stared at the disaster taking place right in front of them. Fortunately, Martel's shrill voice snapped the two back into reality.

"Mommy, what's going on? Why is everyone screaming?" she asked, an immense amount of fear built up in her voice.

"We have to get out of here quickly," Sheena told Storm who nodded her head in agreement. Sheena and Storm took their children and began to make their way through the flaming city as they tried to find the safest way to the exit.

Suddenly, Storm and Sheena saw a group of soldiers making their way through the city. At first they could have been mistaken for the Renegades, but Storm had been around them enough to know that it wasn't their group. She looked at them carefully and was able to draw a horrible conclusion.

"It's not...," Sheena started.

"It's an army of Desians," Storm stated sadly as they watched the soldiers set fire to buildings and capture innocent civilians, even killing some of them.

"Desians? But I thought that you guys defeated all of them a long time ago," Anna asked.

"So did we, but it looks like they found a way to reorganize themselves right under our noses," Sheena replied.

As the large group of Desians approached, Storm and Sheena took the children into a broken building as they hid under some of the rubble. The city was a dangerous place as buildings burned and collapsed and people were slaughtered in the streets. The two had to get their children out of the city. Storm suddenly became worried for her father and Zelos, she didn't know where either one was. She wanted to look for them but she didn't want to leave Sheena alone with all of the children.

"Sheena, Storm," a voice called from a few buildings away. Storm and Sheena looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Lloyd coming through the fire to greet them. When he got there he hugged his children and wife tightly while checking to make sure they were okay.

"I saw the smoke coming from the city on my way here and I knew that something was wrong," Lloyd commented. "We need to get out of here, it's a war zone. They're killing everyone and anything in their path," he told them as he started to move them towards the city's entrance.

"You guys go on ahead, I need to find my Dad and Zelos. I have to make sure that they're okay. I'll be okay, I'll just fly through here, they won't even see me," Storm assured them.

"What are you talking about Mom?" Anna asked.

"Ask questions later, get mad at me later, but now I need to go and find your father," Storm told her as she released her blue wings and took off in the sky.

"What is going on around here?" Anna asked herself as Sheena and Lloyd dragged her and her cousins out of the city.

Storm flew off in the direction of the castle, hoping that she could find Zelos somewhere around there. She was almost to the castle when she saw a woman with her child in the street. The woman was desperately clutching her young toddler as she watched the terror ensue around her, as she sat frozen to her spot in fear. Suddenly, one of the nearby buildings began to crumble and Storm could tell that the woman and her child were in harm's way. She didn't know if she would make it in time as the building collapsed, large pieces of rumble threatening to fall on the woman and her child. Storm flew in and pushed the two out of the way in the nick of time, snapping the woman out of her fear as she ran for it. Storm; however, didn't completely make it out of the buildings path and her leg was caught in the collapse. She was stunned by pain for a few moments and didn't notice that the buildings destruction caused the building next to it begin to crumble. Storm didn't even notice as the building collapsed, threatening to trap her under it's pieces.

Fortunately for Storm, someone else saw what was about to happen and flew in to save her, picking her up and getting her out of danger's way. Yuan set Storm down across the street as she tried to get some feeling back into her leg. She hoped that she just stunned it and didn't manage to break her leg. She couldn't believe that Yuan was in Meltokio and that he had just saved her life.

"What are you doing here Yuan? What's going on?" she asked desperate for answers.

"I don't know how it happened or why it's happening, but Desians have reorganized and are taking over Symphonia," Yuan replied.

"Symphonia? You mean...," Storm questioned.

"Meltokio is not the only city under attack right now. Iselia, Izoold, Luin, Mizuho, you name it and it's begin attacked right now. I don't know how but the Desians have a larger force than ever and they all slipped by unnoticed over all these years. I'm afraid that we can't stop it now," Yuan told her sadly.

"This is horrible, I can't believe all the killing, all the destruction. Who would do something like this?" Storm wondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But, what are you still doing in here?" Yuan asked her.

"I'm looking for Kratos and Zelos. I'm not leaving without knowing where they are," Storm told him, daring him to stop her.

Suddenly, another explosion occurred near them as both Storm and Yuan covered their heads when they heard its roar. Yuan looked up and knew that she wasn't going to change her mind. "I'm going with you," he told her.

"That's your own choice," she warned him as she pulled out her wings since her leg had regained slight feeling and she continued to make her way to the castle. Soon, she saw Zelos trying his best to fight off a large group of Desians. He began to slash them with his sword as he knocked out a few. Yuan hopped in and began to use his lightning attacks to paralyze them temporarily for Zelos. Storm hopped in and began to use her angel feathers attack as she blasted away a few of them at a time. Finally, the Desians had enough beatings for the day and decided to retreat from the group.

"Zelos, you're okay," Storm cried happily as she threw herself into his arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but where's Anna?" he asked, concern and fear evident in his voice.

"She's with Lloyd and Sheena. They're trying to escape the city. I want you two to go that way and see if you can help them get out. I can find Kratos on my own," Storm told them.

"There's no way I'm leaving you with all of this," Zelos told her.

"Well, you're going to have to. Now, you two get over your differences and help protect those children, they're the most important people here, not me,' Storm told them.

Zelos couldn't disagree with her and he knew that it was pointless to try anyway. He and Yuan both made their way to the entrance of the city. Storm flew off in the direction of her father's house in the hopes of finding him.

Not too far from his house, Kratos was trying to fight off Desians as he helped civilians escape from their homes. He was beginning to get a little frustrated at the number of Desians as they kept on coming after him.

"Lightning Blade," Kratos called, his sword ramming into two Desians, knocking them out cold on the ground. "Sacred powers, cast light upon these corrupted souls. Beware sinners, Judgement!" Kratos roared as the sky grew dark and beams of light began to fly out of the sky, killing off quite a few of the Desians. Suddenly, Storm jumped in and fought off the few remaining soldiers with her Outburst attack, sending them flying.

"Dad, we need to get out of here, it's too dangerous," she told him.

"I know, I had to help these people though," he replied as he willingly followed his daughter out of the city as they made their way through soldiers and fires to get out of the city. Unfortunately, they were too late to stop what was already taking place near the entrance. Storm made it to the entrance and saw the assumed leader of the Desians, and she had Anna in her grasp. She was seated on top of a nearby roof with Anna being restrained right next to her and almost the entire army of Desians surrounding Yuan, Zelos, Sheena, Lloyd, and their children. Storm didn't know what was going to happen next.

* * *

Well, that's where I stop today. I hope you like it so far and don't worry, more action to come. Next chapter will have action and then it may slow up a little so everyone can tell what's going on a little better. Don't feel bad if you're confused now, it will get better. Tell me what you thought, please review. Thanks! 


	3. Chapter 3: Rise To Power

Okay, I know that the suspense is killing some of you so I'm here to save the day. I hope that you're all enjoying this so far and I hope that this chapter really gets you all in the mood for this story. Well, here you go and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: Rise To Power

Storm didn't want to believe what she was seeing in front of her. On top of a partially destroyed building stood a teenage girl, holding onto her daughter as she watched the destruction taking place in the city. Storm wondered what happened to Sheena and the others, but her questions were answered when she saw that they were all extremely outnumbered by Desians, even with Yuan and Zelos helping them. Anna was struggling in the grip of the girl as she attempted to break free.

"Let me go you witch," Anna yelled as she tried to pull herself away from the girl.

"You have no power against me. Now, silence you inferior being," the girl shouted at her as she threw Anna behind her as two Desian soldiers restrained her. The young girl just smiled at the chaos that was happening below her.

"Let her go!" Storm yelled, causing the girl to finally notice that she and Kratos were present.

"Ah, Storm. We've been waiting for you. I was just introducing myself to your daughter. She has quite a mouth on her, doesn't she? I think I'll have to take her back with me and help rid her of that," the girl said casually.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Yuan yelled at the girl.

"Me? My name is Sutra. I believe that we've met before Storm. Remember me? Thirteen years ago my parents were killed because of you, remember seeing me in the town that morning before Zelos and you were attacked?" Sutra asked her.

Storm looked at the girl trying to pull together a memory, she knew what she was talking about but she couldn't remember seeing her. Then again, she would have been a child. Sutra was obviously a half-elf, her pointed ears gave that away immediately. She had long silver hair that was pulled into a ponytail. She had one icy blue eye and one crimson eye. She was wearing a pure white shirt with gold embroidery on it and she had on a pair of loose black pants with crimson embroidery on it. Her hair was held up with a red bow and she also had a bow and arrows with her. She wore only a pair of sandals on her feet which looked as if they were relatively old and worn out. Her eyes triggered a memory for Storm as she remembered the young girl that she had seen that day in the alley. She couldn't believe that the people who had tried to kill her were her parents. They were killed because of what they had done and Sutra would have been left as an orphan.

"I remember you, but they didn't say anything about those people having a child," Storm replied.

"When my parents tried to escape they told me to run away, they were afraid that I would be punished as well. I ran away from Meltokio and joined a group of bandits. I learned how to use a bow and arrow from them, but was always determined to make life for half-elves better ever since that day thirteen years ago. So, after about ten years with the bandits I left to create a new army of Desians. It's pretty large wouldn't you say so? I just can't believe that no one was able to track us down, but I suppose everyone was too caught up in the peace to realize that anything was going on. But now, I will be able to bring about the age of the half-elves that Lord Yggdrassil once envisioned," Sutra explained.

"That's just a twisted dream. It wasn't an Age of Half-Elves, it was an Age of Lifeless Beings," Lloyd yelled at her.

"That's almost what the half-elves have now," Sutra yelled, her voice suddenly losing its calm and collected tone as she snapped at him.

"I don't really care what you're trying to do, just give me back my daughter," Storm yelled at her.

"I'm just going to borrow her for a while. She'll be fine with me. Besides, I have bigger plans for later," Sutra remarked as she turned her head and smiled at Anna.

"Fine, then we'll just have to take her back by force," Kratos told her as he brought out his angel wings again, Yuan and Storm joining him a few seconds later.

The three flew away from the large group of Desians that were surrounding them and made their way towards Sutra on the building. Sutra looked calm as she stood and watched them approach her. Yuan and Kratos held off as Kratos began to concentrate on an attack while Storm went straight at Sutra.

Seeing her enemy approach, Sutra pulled out an arrow and got out her bow. She pulled back the arrow and focused her energy as she said, "Thunder Arrow," calmly before releasing it. The arrow flew straight and hit Storm as it shocked her when it hit her. She fell to the ground, slamming into the pavement.

Kratos tried to continue his incantation as he watched Storm hit the ground hard. Yuan went to her aid as Kratos began to chant his attack. Storm slowly got to her feet as she got ready to try a different approach to attack her enemy. She heard her father casting the spell that could spell the end for Sutra, there was no way she'd make it through it.

"Sacred powers, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupted souls. Beware...," but Kratos was cut off as a painfully high pitch sound came from an unknown source. Storm, Yuan, and Kratos all fell to the ground as they held their ears, the noise causing enough pain that they couldn't focus. A small group of the Desians came over to them while they were on their knees in pain to try and take advantage of their condition. Storm was able to focus her pain into an attack as she released her Outburst attack on the group knocking them back.

Zelos and the others couldn't understand what was wrong with the three of them as they watched them all fall to their knees in pain. They were all holding their ears as if some sort of noise was bothering them. No one else could hear what was bothering them, but when they looked up they saw that Sutra was holding some sort of small device. She finally seemed satisfied as she put the device away. Storm, Yuan, and Kratos all slowly regained their composure as the terrible noise disappeared.

"What's going on?" Sheena asked.

"Angelic hearing is very sensitive. I decided that if I created something that could produce an extremely high pitch noise, I could create an immense amount of pain to them. Of course, I didn't want to suffer at the same time so I created a pitch above the normal hearing range. It's a wonderful little invention of mine if I do say so myself," Sutra explained proudly as a sassy smile covered her face.

"Why do you need Anna?" Storm asked her, some pain still in her voice.

"You'll understand that in time my dear, but I believe I've answered enough questions for today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be on my way. Have a wonderful day," Sutra said as she smiled at them all before slipping away with Anna in the destruction and chaos that had consumed the city.

"No, bring her back," Storm cried as she tried to follow her.

Kratos held her back as he watched Sutra escape. "Storm, she seems too powerful for us, she's ready for whatever we throw at her. We need to think this over before we attack again," he told her.

"Yes, plus we need to find out what it is she's planning exactly," Yuan told her.

"But what about Anna? Something terrible could happen to her," Storm cried.

"Anna has no special powers or anything. She's most likely bait for one of us and she won't hurt her unless she gets what she wants," Kratos told her.

"Fine, if she wants me she can take me. I have to try to get her back, I can't just sit back," Storm decided as she pulled out her wings and attempted to fly away. Kratos grabbed her just in time and had to wrestle her to the ground until Storm finally quit struggling against him. She broke down at the thought of losing her daughter.

"Hey guys, we could use a little help over here," Lloyd called as he called the fact that they were still surrounded by Desians to attention.

"Sorry, we're on our way," Yuan called as he and Kratos immediately went to help them as Storm sat motionless in the street, Sutra too far away now to follow.

Once the group escaped from Meltokio they took refuge in a nearby forested area for the night. They set up camp for the night and decided to look for some of the others in the group in the morning, hoping that someone would know what Sutra's plans were.

"Mommy, what's happening? Are we going to be able to go home?" Martel asked.

"Yeah, and where did that lady take Anna?" Kagerou added.

"I don't think we can go back home, and I don't really know what happened to Anna. Don't worry though, we'll get her back really soon," Sheena answered.

Storm wished she could believe what Sheena said but her heart was still heavy at the thought of her daughter being kidnaped. Zelos was very quiet all night but stayed with Storm the entire night. She could tell that he didn't know how to handle the loss either.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope that everyone liked the villain. Remember her? If you don't go back to the last story and you'll find her. I bet no one suspected that. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks! 


	4. Chapter 4: Plans

Update time. I hope that everyone liked the new villain. I really didn't want to bring Pronyma back again. I really hate her too much to keep bringing her back, besides she already had a second chance. Anywho, thanks for all the reviews and enjoy the next chapter!

Sutra: 18

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Chapter 4: Plans

The group decided that they would head over to Altamira in the morning to see how a few of the others were doing and to see if Altamira was even in one piece. Until then, they set up camp and Kratos decided to take the first watch for the night. They had no idea if they would be attacked again in the middle of the night, but they didn't want to take any chances. Everyone else eventually made it to sleep, but Storm was completely unable to fall asleep. Finally, she quietly crept away from the campsite, trying not to make too much noise. Her, Yuan, and Kratos' ears were still a little sore from the attack earlier and she thought that he might not hear her, and he didn't.

Storm began to make her way back towards Meltokio so she could find any sort of clue to where Sutra had taken Anna. If Sutra wanted her, Storm was willing to give herself in, in return for her daughter. She couldn't just sit around like the others and hope that she would be okay, she wanted to ensure that she was safe. Storm made it all the way back to the entrance of Meltokio when someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. She immediately tried to defend herself, but soon realized that it was Kratos. He had noticed that she had snuck off and he had followed her.

"What are you doing? Do you want to get captured?" Kratos asked her angrily as he tried to drag her out of the city.

"Actually, that's what I came here for. If I get captured, maybe they'll let Anna go," Storm told him.

"Listen to yourself. We don't even know if Sutra wants one of us. I do know that you're an easy target to kill if you wander around trying to get captured. If you get killed that's less of a chance that Anna will be rescued. Now, if Sutra is using Anna as bait then she will keep her safe," Kratos told her.

"Like how Mithos kept me safe for all those years?" Storm asked him harshly. This statement hit Kratos hard. He still felt as if what had happened to Storm was still his fault and this didn't help.

"Storm...she'll be fine. Why don't you come back to the campsite, hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow," Kratos advised her.

"I can't just sit around like everyone else. I need to know, we need to take action before it's too late for Anna," Storm cried desperately as she pulled her arm away from Kratos.

Suddenly, the two heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. Kratos grabbed Storm before she could turn herself in as a Desian soldier appeared. Kratos dragged Storm behind a large pile of rubble. The soldier appeared to be checking for any people who may have still been in the city, but he wasn't expecting what came at him.

Kratos leapt out from the pile of rubble and slammed the soldier against what was once a building as he held his sword on his throat. The Desian was obviously not very brave as he immediately dropped his own sword in fear.

"You will tell me where Sutra took Anna," Kratos growled through clenched teeth.

"I...I don't know where she is," the Desian stumbled with his words.

Storm stepped out from her hiding place as she glared at the Desian. "Tell me why she wants her," Storm demanded.

"She doesn't want her," the Desian told Storm.

"What does she want then?" Kratos asked him.

"She wants Storm. She wants her to revive Lord Yggdrassil to bring about the Age of Half-Elves," the soldier answered, still terrified of the sword at his throat.

"She had talked about the Age of Half-Elves when we met her, but she can't possibly think that I can revive Mithos. We destroyed his Cruxis Crystal sixteen years ago," Storm explained.

"But she knows about the crystal shards. She knows how to revive him and she said she needed you. That's all I know, I swear," the guard cried.

"Well, thanks for all the help," Kratos said as he killed off the soldier.

"Dad, you killed him?" Storm asked, shocked at her father's behavior.

"In times of war, we spare no one," Kratos told her. "If I would have let him go he would have revealed our location to the other soldiers."

"This is terrible," Storm said as she followed her father outside the city.

"Now we have to figure out how she's planning on reviving Mithos. How could she use crystal shards and where would she even get them from? It doesn't make sense," Kratos thought to himself out loud.

"What about Anna?" Storm asked him anxiously.

"Well, now we know for sure that Sutra wants you. We can be sure that she won't hurt her," Kratos told Storm.

"I suppose you're right but we have to rescue her as soon as possible," Storm told him.

"Of course, and we will," Kratos promised her.

* * *

"You know, if you stop struggling, you may actually enjoy it here," Sutra told Anna who was still trying to escape from the two soldiers who were holding onto her.

Sutra had taken Anna to what used to be a very populated Sybak, but since it was attacked everyone had been run out. She was planning on moving back into Meltokio at the castle but she wanted to make sure that Storm and her group wouldn't find her...not yet at least.

"Just wait until my mom and dad come here and kick your butt," Anna yelled at Sutra who only smiled at her remark.

"And I suppose they'll kick my butt like they did last time? Not likely because unlike your parents I have a brain and I can use it effectively, that way I'm always one step ahead of them," Sutra explained as she chuckled a little. "And I suppose you've already forgotten about those angel wings your mother had, didn't you?

Anna stopped struggling after being reminded of it. Sutra noticed this and decided to use it to her advantage.

"Your family never told you about those powers did they? Wow, that must really be a shocker for you. You know, that's why your mother still looks my age. She's going to live forever and she'll keep those awesome powers," Sutra told her.

"Is there anyone else with those powers?" Anna asked.

"Of yes, but some of them you don't really know. But, your grandfather has them too. Would you believe that he's actually over 4000 years old. It's not fair is it?" Sutra told her.

Anna couldn't believe it, her family had been hiding this from her and she wanted to know why she didn't have any cool powers too. "Were they born with the powers?" Anna asked.

"Your mother was, but the others obtained them other ways. You can have these powers too Anna, I can help you get them," Sutra told her.

Anna wanted to get these and show her mother that she was capable of using them. She couldn't believe that she was denied the privilege of getting to use them. "Why would she hide this from me?" Anna questioned.

"She probably didn't want you to be better than her. She was probably scared that you could defeat her," Sutra told her. "But think about it, if we can both get these powers we could both help end discrimination for the half-elves. We could improve the world," Sutra offered.

Anna thought it over, her mother always told her to help the half-elves and she even introduced her to Genis and Raine who were really awesome people. She wanted to help the half-elves and show her mother that she could use these powers. Sutra didn't seem like such a bad person, she seemed nice enough, after all she was offering to help her.

"What do we need to do to get these powers?" Anna asked her.

Sutra smiled, knowing that she had been able to convince the naive young girl to join her side. This was going to be easier than she thought. "First...we need Cruxis Crystals," she explained.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Uh-oh, what is Anna getting herself into. This might not be good, and what about the others. Anyway, I hope that you liked this chapter and I wanted to tell you all that there is another link for a Storm picture on my profile page. This one is a colored picture by Raspedra Twilight. It's a montage of pictures of a younger Storm. This on is based on Child of Cruxis. I really think it's awesome so you should all check it out. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter. 


	5. Chapter 5: Bringing Together the Party

Okay, I hope that you all are enjoying the tension that's been building so far. I won't make you wait too long for this chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 5: Bringing Together the Party

Kratos was finally able to drag Storm back to the campsite, but he did have to keep an eye on her for most of the night. She kept trying to sneak away and he figured that she was going to be stubborn about listening to him. He knew that they had to find someone who might know about how Sutra could revive Mithos or anything about the crystal shards that the guard was talking about. He knew that when the others woke up that they would have to tell them about everything they heard.

Once everyone woke up and everything from the night before had been explained, everyone decided that it was in their best interest to round up the old gang, there was going to be a big fight and they needed as many people as possible. They were closest to Altamira and knew that Regal, Genis, and Presea would be there. So, they began to make their way to Altamira.

As they were walking along Sheena suddenly brought something up. "How are we supposed to get there? We have no rheiards," she asked.

"I am not flying everyone over, you're all too heavy," Storm said before anyone could even suggest it.

"I could call the Renegade Base and have them fly some over," Yuan offered.

"You mean that the base wasn't attacked? I thought you said every place was attacked," Lloyd questioned.

"No, she didn't attack the Renegade base. I guess she didn't want to waste soldiers trying to take on the Renegades," he tried to explain.

"Well, if it gets us there call them already," Storm tried to rush him.

"Okay, just give me about a half an hour or so," he told them as he walked off to communicate with his base.

About ten minutes later Storm started to get anxious again. "I wish that he would hurry up, we're wasting too much time," Storm stated as she sighed. "I think that I'm going to go and see what he's doing," she told Sheena and Lloyd who nodded their heads. Everyone was tired from the last day and they weren't really listening anyway.

Storm took this opportunity to sneak off again. She pulled put her wings and began to fly off towards Altamira, hoping to find some answers there. She flew away from the campsite, but Zelos managed to see her take off in the direction of the resort. He ran over to Kratos who was napping under a tree.

"Kratos, wake up. Storm's flown away to Altamira," Zelos yelled at him.

"What! Not again...," Kratos sighed. "Well, she'll be there when we get there, hopefully. There's not much we can do now."

"I'd feel better if you went after her. You and Yuan are the only ones that can get there, please go make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. I couldn't bear to lose her and Anna. I don't know what I'd do," Zelos asked him.

Kratos looked at Zelos and realized that he must feel the same way about Storm as he did about his Anna. He couldn't possibly refuse, he figured that she'd be safe in Altamira, but he'd feel better too if he checked up on her.

"I'll go, tell the others where I went. We'll see you there," Kratos said as he took off after Storm.

Once he got to Altamira he realized that things were not much better there than in Meltokio. Everything, the casino, the hotel, the Lazareno company, was destroyed. He couldn't believe the extent of the damage that took place in Symphonia. Then he began to worry about where Storm was. Not only that, but he also wondered if Presea, Genis, and Regal were all right. There was no sign of anyone in the once beautiful resort. The beaches were littered with pieces of the nearby buildings that had rained upon the ground in explosions. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him.

Kratos whipped around and brought his sword to Genis' neck who appeared very startled by his reaction. Kratos took away his sword at the sight of the mage. "Genis...it's just you," he sighed as he put his sword away.

"Nice to see you too. Are you here for Storm?" Genis questioned him.

"How did you know?" Kratos asked.

"Well, she's here and she's got a bunch of questions that none of know the answers to," Genis explained.

"I see. Where is she?" Kratos asked him.

"A bunch of us who made it through that attack have set up a little campsite over by where the amusement park was. Where are the others?" Genis questioned.

"Lloyd, Sheena, Yuan, Martel, Kagerou, and Zelos are on their way over. Storm actually ran away from the group," Kratos explained.

"What's wrong?" Genis asked.

"Well, this Desian leader kidnaped Anna," Kratos told him sadly.

"No way! Well, you can count Presea and I to be there to help get her back," Genis assured him.

"Thank you, Storm will be happy to hear that," Kratos told him.

The two walked over to the small group of survivors of the attack. Since Altamira was on an island it was much harder for people to escape the destruction. Fortunately, this group had managed to hide well enough that they were spared. Kratos saw Storm talking with Presea and Regal. There was also a small child in the group. Kratos recognized him as Genis and Presea's son, Merlin. Merlin was a very sweet little boy who was a little bit on the shy side when he first bet someone but was actually very friendly once he got to know someone.

Merlin was wearing an outfit like his father used to wear when he was younger except that his was pure white with red lining. He had messy, sliver hair and aqua colored eyes. He really looked a lot like Genis, but he had his mother's quiet and calm personality, most of the time. Merlin was only five and didn't really understand what was happening.

After about an hour, the others arrived and were greeted by Genis and the others. Storm didn't know what to do and she wanted to find Anna as soon as possible, but she didn't even know where to begin looking for her. Soon, her questions were answered when Yuan received a call from the Renegades.

"Sir, the Desians are here and they're attacking. Their leader is also here and she wants to use the teleporter to get to Derris-Kharlan. Bring reinforcements, we'll try to hold her off as long as possible," the soldier said before the transmission was cut off.

"We can't let her get to Derris-Kharlan," Yuan stated.

"Yeah, plus she has Anna. Maybe we can get her back and find out what she's up to," Storm suggested as she got up and was ready to go.

"We'll go, but we can't take the children with us," Sheena told everyone.

"I would be happy to watch them all. I am getting to be too old to keep fighting, I'll stay behind," Regal offered.

"Oh Regal, it won't be the same without you," Storm told him.

"It's okay, I can still defend these three little ones. At least I can be helpful while you're gone," he assured her.

So, Martel, Kagerou, and Merlin were all left under the care of Regal as they all hopped on the rheiards to go and aid the Renegades. Storm didn't know what would await her, but she was ready to get her daughter back.

* * *

"Why are we attacking the Renegades?" Anna asked Sutra as she watched a large army of Desians attempting to break into the base.

"They have the teleporter that will take us to the Cruxis Crystals. We need those crystals if we want our power and if we want a chance to help the half-elves," Sutra explained to her.

"How are we going to help the half-elves?" Anna asked her.

"If we collect all of the crystals that belong to Lord Yggdrassil's Cruxis Crystal then we can put mana in it and we can revive him," Sutra explained.

"Who is Lord Yggdrassil?" Anna questioned.

"You certainly ask enough questions, don't you?" Sutra asked, getting a little irritated with Anna's interrogation. "He's was once a great leader to the half-elves before he was killed. You know, your mother used to work for him. She'd be so happy if we could revive him I'd bet," Sutra told her.

"I've never heard of him. I can't believe that she would keep all of this stuff a secret...and from me too," Anna replied unhappily.

"Well, we'll make sure that she doesn't lie to you anymore. She'll know that she can trust you once you show her all the good that you're doing," Sutra assured her.

"Yeah, I guess I haven't really done anything that makes me seem worthy of this kind of power, but I want to show her that I can use it," Anna confessed.

"That's the spirit, now, let's get those crystals," Sutra cheered her.

* * *

Well, that's the end of this chapter. What will happen at the Renegade base? Will Storm and the others make it there before Sutra can break in and get what she wants? You'll have to wait and see. Well, tell me what you thought and please review. Thanks! 


	6. Chapter 6: Renegade Base

Okay, it's time for the next chapter. Sorry that it took so long to update but my weekend was really busy. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Merlin: 5

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Chapter 6: Renegade Base 

Storm and the others got on board of the rheiards as they made their way towards the Renegade base, hoping that they would make it there in time to stop Sutra from gaining entrance to Derris-Kharlan. Storm hadn't been paying attention to the scenery below her while she was flying to Altamira and she couldn't help as she looked down over Symphonia. There was so much destruction everywhere. Cities were in flames, smoke stacks could be seen above cities from even miles away. Storm looked below her and saw some small bands of survivors from the cities trying to find safe places to go. Women and even young children were struggling to find a new place to call home, there was nothing left anywhere. Storm felt so worthless, knowing that there was nothing that she could do to help any of them, after all, she was out of a home herself.

"Are you all right back there?" Zelos finally asked as he noticed Storm's silence and the looks she was giving to the people down below.

"I just...I just feel terrible. What are we...what is anybody going to do? There's nothing to go back to. Not even Anna could have a normal, happy childhood," Storm sighed.

"Hey, this isn't anyone but Sutra's fault, and we're going to make her pay for it," Zelos assured her.

"I guess you're right," Storm said uncertainly.

"Of course I am, I am myself," Zelos laughed, trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't working very well. Storm tried to crack a small smile at him, but she soon returned her gaze to the poor people traveling below her.

* * *

"Hey Sutra," Anna called the half-elf as she watched the Desians attempt to break into the well-defended Renegade base. 

"What is it, I'm very busy," Sutra replied, getting very irritated at Anna's constant questions.

"Why are we attacking the Renegades? They're half-elves too, right? So, aren't they the good guys?" Anna asked.

"Well, there are good half-elves and bad half-elves. The Renegades work too closely with the humans that want to keep their power. The Renegades act like they're trying to help the half-elves when really they're helping the power hungry humans and themselves," Sutra replied. It was very obvious to anyone that that was exactly how Sutra felt about the Renegades. Anna could not but help but believe the same thing.

Suddenly, the front of the Renegade base finally broke down. Sutra looked up and noticed that her moment was at hand. She didn't waste anytime as she yelled out to her commanders in her army. "Charge! Get in there and kill them all, I want no survivors!" she screamed as the Desian army began to charge inside the base. They were met by a whole army of Renegade army. The soldiers on both sides put their hearts into their battle, but only one side would come out with victory.

* * *

Zelos caught Storm off guard, her eyes still drifting off on the scenery around her, as he set down the rheiard a few miles away from the Renegade base. It was too dangerous to land next to the base if Sutra's troops were already there. Storm and the others had no idea what was coming up and they could only hope that the Renegades were able to hold off Sutra's army long enough. The large group began to run through the desert as they attempted to get to the base in time. 

"Do you think that they'll be okay?" Storm asked Yuan who was beginning to look very worried.

"I really hope so," Yuan managed to answer as they continued to jog to the base.

There was one more hill for the group to make their way over before they would discover if they were too late to help. As they walked up the hill, they each prepared for the worst news, but none of them expected what they would see. Storm's heart felt as if it dropped into her stomach as she looked at the scene laid out before her.

There were bodies littering the entire area around the Renegade base. Renegade and Desian blood was spilled all over the place, there was no separation of race here. Storm couldn't help break down when she saw many familiar Renegade faces lying on the sand as she walked over to them. Tears began to well up in her eyes at the sight of it all.

"This is...horrible," Presea finally said, breaking the long silence.

"Yuan, I'm so sorry," Storm told him as she gave him a hug. She didn't even think about, or care as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her into him. All she could think about was that so many good people had died there, both sides fighting for what they had thought was right, but no one on that field had really won. Storm was tired of all the fighting, that was all she had ever had her entire life and she just wanted everyone to get along. She now realized that her dream was never going to happen.

"Well, we can't stand here all day, there may be a fight going on inside, we can still defend this place," Zelos suggested.

"Yes, maybe Sutra is inside. She may have Anna and we may be able to stop her from getting to Derris-Kharlan," Kratos told them.

"Okay, I say we get in there and find out what's going on," Storm agreed.

The group made their way down to the base and slipped inside. The hallways seemed relatively quiet and the group began to wonder what had happened to everyone. Did Sutra retreat with her soldiers, or did the Renegades all fail? Suddenly, the group ducked into a small room as they heard two men who were talking.

The men appeared to be Desian soldiers who were just casually strolling by, allowing the party to believe that Sutra had taken over. They all strained to hear the conversation the two soldiers were having, hoping that it would reveal something, anything to them.

"So what is the leader planning on doing now that she's in Derris-Kharlan?" the one, a tall muscular man asked.

"She said that she was going to go through an angel transformation with the Cruxis Crystal along with that brat that she keeps bringing everywhere. You know, that Anna girl. I guess she wants to become an angel too," the other, a slightly shorter and huskier man replied.

"Why is she going to let her do that?" the first man asked.

"I guess that she's just very easy to trick. She's only bait after all," the one man laughed. Storm almost rushed out of the room at them then, but Lloyd and Sheena held her back, Lloyd covering her mouth to keep her from blowing their cover.

"So, how is she planning on reviving Lord Yggdrassil?" the first man questioned.

"Well, she said that his Cruxis Crystal was destroyed almost sixteen years ago, but the shards have fallen from Derris-Kharlan and landed in certain parts of Symphonia. She wants to look for them and bring them together to revive him. She needs a lot of mana for that, but that's why we capture Storm. We don't need to kill the little angel, just use her for awhile, but if Lord Yggdrassil wished her dead, then so be it. Anyway, Sutra wants to become an angel so she can gather the shards easier. That's all that I was told by our leader," the second replied.

Lloyd and Kratos nodded to each other as they jumped out from the room and swiftly killed off the two soldiers, not even giving them a chance to run off. They were all so tired of the fighting, but they were unable to keep themselves from fighting to make it stop. At this point, fighting was a certainty.

The others soon followed the two out and they couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"Well, she's already in Derris-Kharlan, we can't stop her now," Sheena sighed.

"No, but we can get the crystal shards before she does. If she cannot collect them all then she cannot revive Lord Yggdrassil," Kratos added.

"Well, how are we supposed to find the shards, we don't even know where to begin looking," Lloyd asked.

"I know one person who would be able to find anything if it's been sitting around gathering dust for long enough," Genis offered happily, yet there was some slight embarrassment buried in his voice.

"Who's that?" Storm asked.

"My sister," Genis told them. "She should be around Iselia, she was checking in on the old school and Colette, hopefully she's okay."

"I guess that means we're going to Iselia," Zelos said as the others agreed as they made their way out of the Renegade base, trying not to get noticed as the walked out of the relatively silent hallways.

Storm noticed the effect that losing his soldiers was having on Yuan so she grabbed his hand, causing him to look at her.

"Hey, we'll get her back, don't worry about it," Storm assured him.

"I suppose you're right, but I can't help but feel like it's my fault. I wasn't there to help them," Yuan said sadly.

"But you cared enough to come for them and fight for them," Storm added.

Yuan couldn't help but smile. She always could cheer him up, he just wished he could do the same for her.

"Don't worry, we'll get Anna back," he told her. "I won't stop fighting until we do."

"I can't believe that she'd join Sutra. I must be a horrible mother," Storm said sadly.

"No, she just doesn't understand, besides we don't really know if Anna is really willingly working for Sutra," Yuan told her.

"I know, but I'm still afraid for her either way. I hope she doesn't make a stupid mistake, I would never be able to forgive myself if she did," Storm told him.

Yuan couldn't believe it, no matter what was happening around them, Storm always managed to throw the blame on herself. Not once had she said anything about it being Sutra's fault or even Anna's, she took the entire blame on her own shoulders. He also hoped that Anna did not make a stupid decision, or Storm for that matter.

* * *

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope that you liked it. Tell me what you thought and thanks for reading. 


	7. Chapter 7: Iselia

Okay, I think that it's probably time that I updated, don't you think? Anyway, here's the next chapter for everyone.

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Chapter 7: Iselia

It was obvious that the last few days events were starting to take a toll on the entire group as they slowly made their way to Iselia. Most of the group still hadn't gotten over the tragedy that they saw at the Renegade Base. Yuan was taking it the hardest, he was still thinking that it was his fault that things turned out the way they did because he wasn't there. Kratos tried his best to talk his friend out of his depression, but he had a long way to go before he would make Yuan feel better. Storm was still going through her problems, she still felt responsible for the loss of Anna, so she couldn't offer up too much help for Yuan, although she did try.

Anna's loss really was getting to Zelos too, but he was forced to be the stronger one in the group. He couldn't break down about it in front of Storm, he knew if he did he'd make it worse for her. He really hoped that they could find Anna and stop Sutra. He also knew that no matter what the outcome of this was, there was no way things would ever be the same for any of them.

"Look, I think that's Iselia up ahead," Genis shouted as he pointed to what appeared to be a village. There wasn't much left of any of the buildings and they couldn't see many people. They did notice that someone was coming out from the forest nearby. The group wasn't sure who was coming, but they prepared themselves for the worst. What they didn't know was that the group that was coming at them couldn't tell who they were either and were trying to defend themselves against them.

"Genis?" one of the people called in the distance.

"Raine?" Genis questioned.

Genis began to run for the two people and soon realized that it was Colette and Raine, the others in the group decided to follow and were so relieved to see that their friends were okay. Raine almost squeezed the life out of her brother when she saw him and Colette was greeted by the others in the group.

"Thank Martel you're all okay. But...where are all of the children?" Raine asked.

Storm dropped her gaze at Raine's question, but Genis replied to his sister's question. "Merlin, Kagerou, and Martel are all with Regal in Altamira," Genis explained.

Where is Anna?" Colette wondered.

"She...she was kidnapped by Sutra," Lloyd explained sadly after realizing that Storm wasn't going to say anything.

"This is terrible," Raine said. She went over to Storm and hugged her, noticing that she needed something before she broke down completely. "We'll find her, together," she assured her.

"Who is this Sutra and what is going on?" Colette asked.

"Sutra is a half-elf who is determined to revive Mithos. She's already brought together a huge army of Desians and has moved to Derris-Kharlan to get a Cruxis Crystal for herself," Kratos attempted to explain.

"How is she going to revive Mithos? We destroyed his Cruxis Crystal sixteen years ago," Raine asked.

"Yeah, but I guess the crystal went off into Symphonia in pieces and she can revive him by bringing the shards together and harnessing enough mana to bring him back," Sheena told her.

"Well, I guess that means that we need to find the shards before she does. If she's even missing one then we can beat her," Raine said.

"That's why we came here, to find you guys. We need as much help as we can get," Lloyd told the two.

"I'll do my best," Colette chirped, she hadn't changed at all in all of these years.

The group was about to make their way out of the deserted area when suddenly Sheena stopped them all. "What's the matter Sheena?" Lloyd asked her.

"Well, I thought that we could visit Verius. He might be able to help us, besides I haven't seen him in years," Sheena told them, hoping that they would let her go to the temple.

"Sure, let's go to the Martel Temple and see if he can help us," Kratos agreed.

* * *

Sutra walked through Derris-Kharlan until she reached Welgaia, now the city of angels. All of the angels looked upon the stranger with suspicion. They had all gained back their souls from Storm and Kratos and they weren't happy that someone had barged into Derris-Kharlan.

"What are you doing here strangers?" one of the angels asked.

"We are the new rulers of this world," Sutra replied calmly.

"We only obey the queen, but she is not here," another angel replied.

"Yes, but I have the queen's daughter," Sutra told them as she showed them Anna. The angels looked over Anna as they tried to determine if she was truly Storm's daughter.

After a few moments they backed away and one of the angels finally replied. Anna was very confused and worried about what was going on. "She has a similar mana signature as Storm's, she truly is the Queen's daughter," the angel announced to the others.

Sutra smiled at what she had accomplished. She whispered something to Anna who nodded her head before she looked up at the angels. "Take us to the Cruxis Crystals and to where Mithos was killed," she announced.

The angels were happy to oblige to their princess. They led through hundreds of hallways in the enormous city. Anna was very overwhelmed by all of the buildings. The city was beautiful, but she really couldn't believe how many angels there were. What she couldn't figure was that if the angels lived here, did that mean that she was in heaven? She was so confused, but she assumed that she would figure out everything soon. She hoped that once her mother and father saw that she was ready to become an angel that they would explain everything to her.

Soon, they were led to a room that had been sealed off for quite some time. There was a part of a building and at the end of it was a small glowing crystal. It was floating in the air and was lighting up the back part of the room.

"Is this...?" Sutra began as her eyes widened at what she saw before her.

"This is where Mithos was killed and that is a small portion of his crystal that was found and it has stayed here ever since. We do not know where the rest of the crystal is or if it even exists," the angel explained to them.

Sutra carefully went to the small wall and touched the crystal which dropped to the ground the moment she touched it. Sutra flinched and took a step back at the crystal's reaction to her. She carefully bent over and grabbed the crystal and stared at it with hopeful eyes.

"Now I'm closer to bringing back Mithos and he can finally free the half-elves," Sutra said to herself.

"I will take you to the Cruxis Crystals that were not destroyed by Kratos and Storm," the angel told them, bringing Sutra out of her trance-like state.

"Yes, please take us there," Anna agreed.

_Now I can finally be an angel, I'll show my mother that I can be as good of an angel as she can. She'll wish that she would have told me about all of this earlier. I can't believe that I spent my whole life chasing after pre-teen boys when I could have been the princess of this awesome place, Anna thought as she and Sutra followed the angel deeper into Derris-Kharlan._

Sorry if this chapter's short, but I think that it's a good place to stop. Next chapter is where they run into Verius and maybe Anna and Sutra will find the Cruxis Crystals. Storm and the rest of the party is going to have to move because Sutra's already got one of the shards and they definitely need to stop her before she can revive Mithos. Well, tell me what you thought and please review. Thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 8: The Martel Temple

Sorry that it took so long for me to update but I've been super busy lately. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I did get some new ideas for the story while I was waiting for time to write this chapter but they won't be till later in the story. Anyway, here you go. Enjoy!

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Chapter 8: The Martel Temple

Sheena couldn't believe that she was about to see Verius again. It had been almost sixteen years since she last visited him and she hadn't realized just how much she had missed him. She really hoped that he could help them find some of the pieces of Mithos' Cruxis Crystal or at least help them figure out if Sutra could actually revive Mithos. The group were at the bottom of the long flight of stairs that led to the Martel Temple. The temple was surprisingly unharmed but their were no people near it. Sheena wondered how the temple had managed to remained untouched with all of the chaos going on outside its walls.

"Wow, the Desians must not have looked inside of the temple," Sheena said to the others, which everyone could tell was a relief to her.

"Perhaps, or maybe someone or something kept them out," Kratos considered.

"Like what?" Storm asked him.

"There could be some sort of a monster in there, protecting the temple and the Desians would have just decided to leave it for the time being," Raine told her.

"Exactly," Kratos added.

"So, in other words, we should be ready to fight?" Lloyd asked as he drew his sword.

"I wouldn't count it out yet," Zelos told him as he pulled out his own sword.

Sheena and Storm rolled their eyes at the sight of their husbands as they began to ascend the long flight of stairs. The others decided to follow them. As they walked up the stairs Colette looked over at Lloyd who was taking in the scenes. Genis was on the other side of her as she looked at him too, his own mind wandering.

"Doesn't this bring back memories?" Colette finally spoke up. The question caught Genis and Lloyd off guard as they suddenly looked at her before observing the surroundings a little more closely.

"Yeah, I guess it does. This place hasn't changed at all since we first came here to take you to the oracle. With all the destruction going on around here it's kind of peaceful to see this and think back on it," Lloyd admitted.

"Yeah, who ever would have known what we were getting ourselves into," Genis added with a large grin.

The group finally made it to the top of the hill and were at the entrance again when Colette began to reminisce again.

"Hey Kratos! This is where we met you for the first time. I sure am glad that we met you," Colette said happily as she looked at Kratos whose face wasn't quite so animated. He finally gave into the girl's happiness and cracked a small smile.

"Yeah, I am too," Lloyd added. Kratos looked at his son. His years of being with Yggdrasil often made him look as if he didn't care about anything or anyone, but he couldn't help but love his two children. He was so overjoyed that Lloyd had finally learned to accept him as his father despite everything he had done to him in the past.

"Well, are we going to think about the past all day or are we going to worry about what's going on now and get in there to fix it?" Zelos asked the group as he marched towards the entrance to the temple.

The others shrugged their shoulders as they decided to follow Zelos into the temple, hoping to find some sort of good news inside.

They walked inside and couldn't even find any traces of any of the monsters that had once ruled the halls of the sacred temple. The didn't even pay attention to the fact that they were being followed inside by two men. Storm had never been inside of the temple but for some reason the inside reminded her of a dungeon. She couldn't believe that something like that had been named after Martel. The inside of the temple even reminded her of the dungeon cells she had to spend the nights in after beatings from Yggdrasil and Pronyma. She shivered a little bit at the thought and grabbed Zelos' hand and pulled closer to him. He looked down at her and gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand making her feel more secure.

Finally, they reached an altar without being attacked by anything as Sheena called for Verius. Suddenly, a bright light appeared all around the altar and the outline of Verius began to glimmer in front of them. Finally, Verius took shape and appeared in front of the group.

"It's been a long time old friend," Sheena smiled as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Yes it has. I assume that you have business that brings you to this sacred temple," Verius bellowed.

Sheena looked sadly at Verius, realizing that it wasn't the same creature that had once accompanied her for so many years. Corrine was gone and Verius had taken his place. She didn't care though, she still cared about him no matter what he was. "Yes, the destruction in Symphonia by a girl named Sutra has brought us here. She wishes to revive Mithos Yggdrasil by collecting the fragments of his Cruxis Crystal and providing enough mana to them to revive him. We wanted to know if there really are pieces of this crystal, and if so, where they are," Sheena explained to him.

"Yes, there are crystal shards scattered about Symphonia, but these shards did not fall randomly. These are scattered close to temples and where the different summon spirits watch over them. All of the spirits with you can sense their presence and most likely they are near their temples," Verius told her.

"Is there one here?" Storm asked, getting impatient with the long answers.

"Yes, there is one here in this temple. It is near the resting place of the Sorcerer's ring which was taken from here so many years ago. There are no monsters in this temple. I was able to protect it, but your other spirits temples may not have been as lucky. Iselia was not hit hard and I doubt that I will have to offer up much protection for this temple. You may take the shard, but be wary of what you may run into at the others," Verius warned the group.

That was all that Storm needed and she was off to find the crystal shards as Lloyd decided to follow her since he knew where the Sorcerer's Ring was once at. The two of them went farther down into the temple and Storm was getting more and more impatient by the second. She wanted to get all of the pieces before Sutra could so she wouldn't be able to use Anna as a weapon to get her mana. Storm wouldn't allow Anna to be used as bait for that sick woman's game.

Finally, Storm and Lloyd were staring at the floating crystal up where the ring once was. It was floating in the air as it glowed brightly. Lloyd walked over to it hesitantly as if slowly reached out to touch it. When he did, it instantly stopped glowing and dropped to the ground. He stared at it, thinking that something else would happen, but bent over to pick it up when he realized that nothing would.

"Lloyd, we have a piece. Maybe we can stop Sutra," Storm said happily and hopefully.

"I know we can," Lloyd told her as he handed her the crystal.

* * *

"Lady Sutra we have found the secret to finding the crystals," one Desian told a holographic image of Sutra outside of the Martle Temple not long after the others left.

"And that is...?" Sutra asked them, her voice growing more irritated by the second.

"They are by the temples of the summon spirits and the summon spirits can sense them," another Desian replied for the other one.

"Well, I guess that means we'll let their group do all the dirty work and we can take all the prize from them. Where are they going next?" Sutra asked.

"They're going to the Fire Seal," the Desians both replied.

"Very good, we'll gather a good party to wait for them once they get out," Sutra said as she laughed at the idea of getting her crystals.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Next chapter will take place in Derris Kharlan when Sutra and Anna use the Cruxis Crystals for the first time. Anyway, I hope you liked it and remember if you have any comments or questions just go to the Storm Aurion Wilder forum and talk there. Thanks for reading. 


	9. Chapter 9: Angels

Update time! I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. Just to let everyone also know, there is another picture up on my profile page. This one was done by the very talented Raspedra Twilight. It's a picture of Sutra, let her know what you think. Check it out. Anyway, here's the next chapter for everyone.

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Chapter 9: Angels

Sutra was excited to find out that she could count on Storm and her group to collect the crystal shards, seeing how they could easily follow the Summons Spirits. All she really had to do was pick a good time to come in and take them from the group. Of course, she knew that she had the perfect bait to bring the shards right to her. She looked over at Anna who was still trying to take in everything that she saw around her. Sutra believed that she had gained the girl's trust and it would be easy to get her to take the shards and to capture her mother with her in possession. All she had to do was keep up her little act for a while longer. Who knew, maybe Anna could eventually become a good apprentice someday, abandoning her parents and friends all together.

Sutra was ready to take the next step in her plan and she decided that she needed to find the Cruxis Crystals that she could use herself. Sutra wasn't really sure if she really wanted to live forever but she could always come up with some way to return to normal if she changed her mind about it. She didn't mind the fact that her body would stay the same, it would help her in battle years down the road. Sutra turned to a nearby angel and called it over.

"Take is to the Cruxis Crystals, we're ready for our transformation," Sutra commanded him. The angel simply nodded as he led the two of them through the endless hallways in Welgaia. The angels all stopped and stared as the two made their way to the vault where Storm and Kratos had stored away the last few Cruxis Crystals for safe-keeping. They definitely didn't know that someday and evil woman would be led straight to the vault along with Anna.

Anna was beginning to get more and more nervous with every step towards the large vault. The angel opened the lock and opened the huge door to the crystals. The door itself was about twelve foot tall and Anna wondered how large the crystals inside must be, or how many there were. Anna's knees began to shake as she thought of what the consequences of what she was doing could be. What if there really were no crystals and this was all a trick Sutra had come up with to kill her. Anna realized that she was stuck, if she didn't go with the transformation Sutra would probably kill her, if she did who knew what would happen. Would she really get angel wings like her mother? She had never seen any sort of crystal on her. Anna took a step into the vault and realized that inside of the enormous storage room, there were only about five crystals and the rest was empty space. The crystals were sitting up on a pedestal and Sutra walked over to the crystals and grabbed one and looked at it and a smile spread over her face.

"With this we will be unstoppable," Sutra laughed as she threw a crystal over to Anna who could only stare at the gem. "Go ahead and put it on," Sutra urged her as she placed her own crystal on her neck.

Anna watched as Sutra began to glow as the crystal's power began to take effect. Suddenly, a pair of cold, black wings appeared out of her back. The wings were lined with a crimson color and sparkled crimson as Sutra flapped her wings a few times to get the feel of them. "So much power," Sutra muttered as she turned around and looked at Anna who was still string dumbfounded at Sutra, unable to say anything.

"Well, go ahead and put on the crystal already," Sutra said impatiently, her voice beginning to grow in anger.

Anna slowly put the crystal to her neck and felt it attach to her skin. There was no going back now. She felt a surge of power rush through her body. It was the same tingling feeling as when your foot falls asleep except it was flowing into every crevice of her body. It was an amazing feeling as she realized that she could hear much farther. Suddenly, two wings popped out of her own back as she looked backwards and saw the two crimson colored wings flap behind her. Anna loved the feeling that she had and she wanted more of it.

"Well?" Sutra asked her, noticing the different looks that Anna had appearing over her face.

"I love this feeling, I want more," Anna said as she smiled at the feeling that was inside of her.

"We'll get more, but we need to collect the crystal shards first," Sutra replied. She didn't expect to get that kind of reaction from Anna, but she was excited that Anna had the potential to become power hungry. If she wanted more power it would make it easier for Sutra to get exactly what she wanted. Anna could become a fellow villain instead of just bait. She could do all the work for her, but she needed to work a little more on her...and Storm.

"I will go to Triet and meet up with your parents, they know where the shards are. I don't want them to see you just yet, you need to learn how to control those powers first. I'll tell you when the time is right for you to return to Symphonia. While I'm gone get more acquainted with Derris-Kharlan," Sutra told her. Anna nodded at her and attempted to fly around Derris-Kharlan but was not so skilled at flying completely straight.

Sutra flew over to the teleporter that would lead her back to the Renegade base. She needed to have a little talk with Storm.

_

* * *

She was in some sort of glass cell as she slowly opened her eyes. She could tell that she was in Derris-Kharlan, but she couldn't tell where. The lights were very bright around her and her head was pounding. She didn't have much energy but was barely able to move. The glass covering opened and someone walked over to where she was laying. She looked up and tried to focus on who was looking at her. She felt a hand touch her cheek and ran down to her chin. The hand was very gentle at first but when it got to her chin it grabbed her and forced her to look at the person in the face._

_Her eyes slowly focused on the person in front of her and she realized that it was none other than Mithos Yggdrasil hovering over her weak body. Storm immediately began to panic at the sight of her old teacher. She knew that he was probably very upset at what she had done and he was ready to teach her her lesson. _

_"Ah Storm," his voice said softly, "It's been quite awhile and I still remember what you have coming to you," he finished._

_Storm watched as his hand flew up above her head and began to make its way towards her face..._

Storm bolted up and was breathing heavily as she looked around her only to find that she was sleeping in a field somewhere between Triet and Iselia. She looked next to her and saw Zelos slowly begin to stir as he realized that she was up.

"What's the matter Storm?" he asked her as she tried his best to calm her in her panicky state.

"It was a nightmare," Storm told him.

"I thought that we got through this years ago. Are they about Yggdrassil again?" Zelos asked.

"Yeah, but now they're different. It's nothing from my past, he's coming back. I just know it and he's out for revenge, on all of us I'm sure," Storm told him as he reached over and brought her head towards his chest. He began to rub her back, hoping to relax her a bit.

"We'll all do everything we can to keep him from coming back. I promise that I'll fight him before he can ever touch you. He'll have to go through me first," Zelos told her.

"Thanks Zelos," Storm said quietly.

"Feel better?" he asked as she nodded softly at him. "Well, then let's go back to sleep," Zelso offered, but Storm stood up instead.

"I think I'm going to go and take a short walk to think a little. I can't really get back to sleep after that," Storm told him.

"Okay, but promise you'll get some sleep. Please be careful out there," he told her.

"I will," Storm promised him.

Storm walked away from the campsite and soon got the strange feeling that someone was following her. She spun around quickly to see Sutra fly swiftly down from a tree with her black and crimson wings. Storm was amazed at her appearance. She revealed her own blue wings and prepared to attack the new angel, realizing that Sutra was already one step ahead of them with her new wings and angelic powers.

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Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope that you're enjoying this. I realized how long this story should be. I'm really just getting started. Don't forget that this is just the first story in this Dark Age series so there's a lot of stuff coming yet. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed, please review and don't forget to check out the new picture with the link on my profile page and also check out the Storm forum if you get bored. Thanks for reading! 


	10. Chapter 10: Bargain

Sorry it took so long for an update but the website wouldn't allow me to login for a long time. Anyway, here's the next part of the story that everyone, including myself have been waiting for. Enjoy!

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Chapter 10: Bargain

Storm drew her sword and prepared to attack Sutra with everything she had, but she noticed that, besides her wings, Sutra was not preparing to attack at all. Storm immediately knew that something was up and she didn't like it one bit. Storm slowly lowered her sword but didn't take her eyes off of Sutra for even a second. She didn't trust her at all.

"I'm not here to fight you, only to talk," Sutra told Storm calmly.

"If you're going to talk then you'd better tell me where the hell my daughter is," Storm yelled at her.

"Patience my friend, your daughter is safe. I can assure you of that," Sutra replied with a sly grin on her face.

Storm's eyes narrowed on her enemy. She was getting sick and tired of this girl's cocky attitude. She wanted her daughter back now dammit and she didn't want to wait for this bitch to decide if it was a good time or not. "Where is she?" Storm demanded with emphasis on every word.

"I told you that she's safe, isn't that good enough for you. You should be happy that I'm keeping that brat alive for you," Sutra replied angrily. She was beginning to lose her cool with Storm, but she soon brushed the feeling off and returned to her calm appearance.

Storm raised her sword to Sutra again. "If you don't bring her back alive, I'll kill you right now," Storm threatened her.

Sutra laughed a little at this remark. Storm was confused by her reaction, but didn't let her guard down. "I wouldn't do that if I were you my little Stormie," Sutra replied.

"And why's that?" Storm asked her, getting more and more impatient with each passing second.

"Because if you kill me and I don't return to where your daughter is being held, my soldiers have been ordered to kill her. Believe me, they could care less about what happens to that little kid. So, why don't you be a good little girl and put your sword down so we can talk. What do you say?" Sutra told her as she reached out to Storm's sword and pushed it down a little bit.

Storm glared at Sutra while trying to decide what to do. Finally, her sword slowly moved back to its sheath. Storm didn't like it, but as long as Anna was being held captive, she was at her mercy. "What do you want?" Storm asked her.

"Well," Sutra began. "Since you've already began your quest to find the crystal shards, I assume you know what I want with them and with you," she said.

"Yeah, but we'll stop you from reviving him. I won't let you bring him back," Storm replied defiantly.

"Okay, so let's say that you do get the shards, then what?" Sutra asked her. "I still have Anna and I can still kill her. By stopping my plans, you're not saving her," Sutra told her.

Storm thought about it and realized that she was right. Even if they did collect the shards Sutra could still kill Anna, Storm would still be at her mercy. Storm tried to think of any other option for their party to rescue Anna, but she couldn't think of anything. No one else in the party seemed to realize that Anna would still be in danger. Sutra could see her reactions and decided to use her emotions to her advantage.

"Maybe they're more worried about Mithos coming back than your daughter. Have they really tried to get her back, or have they just tried to prevent him from coming back?" Sutra asked her.

Storm looked down at this statement. She didn't want to admit it, but what Sutra said made sense. No one was willing to look for Anna, just the shards. They didn't care about Anna, just about Mithos' return. "What do I have to do to get Anna back?" Storm asked Sutra.

"If you collect the shards for me and deliver them to me, I'll set Anna free. Of course, I need you too so, you in exchange for her. I give you my word that I will let her do whatever she wills after that. She'll be safe, but as for you...well that's a different story," Sutra told her.

Storm stared at Sutra, knowing that if she agreed to do what she was asking she would be betraying everyone. Everything that her friends and family were doing would be put to waste. Storm didn't care, as long as she knew that Anna was safe she could be happy, even in death. Storm gave Sutra her answer with a simple nod. Sutra smiled as she stuck out her hand to shake on the deal which Storm grabbed without any question.

* * *

As Storm walked back to the camp she realized that she was exactly what she was always meant to be. She was a traitor, but she figured that no one in the party would be surprised by her actions. She figured that no one in the party trusted her completely so they shouldn't be too shocked by her actions. She wished that she didn't have to do it to them, she wasn't really worth what Sutra wanted anyway. She believed that her life did not contain that much value, but she knew that Anna's did.

Storm entered the camp and noticed that Zelos was up, waiting for her to come back. After what had just happened she couldn't look at him. She knew what she was going to have to do, but it was for their daughter and she knew that it was better for him.

"Where were you for so long?" Zelos asked as he tried to put an arm on her shoulder.

Storm jerked away from his touch and barely muttered back to him. "I was just out thinking, that's all."

"What's the matter?" Zelos asked her.

"It's nothing," Storm told him as she went to where the others were enjoying breakfast. Storm sat down with the group and looked at them, each person she looked at caused her more pain as she thought of what she would be doing to them. She kept telling herself that it was for the best, but decided to see what they said if she asked them about what Sutra had said.

"Hey Lloyd," Storm called to him. Lloyd was pigging out on the amazing pancakes that Genis had made for the group, but looked up when Storm called to him.

"What is it?" he asked her as he paused at his plate, but was evidently itching to get back to his meal.

"What are we going to do once we get back the shards? How will we get Anna back?" she asked him, but was met with silence from him.

"I knew it. You have no idea to save her, you just want to stop Lord Yggdrasil from coming back," she yelled at him as she ran off back into the woods.

Kratos was about to get up and talk to her, but soon noticed that someone else was going in his place. Yuan got up and ran after Storm in hoped of catching her.

Storm had her hands buried in her face as she let the tears fall from her eyes. She couldn't help but worry about what Anna was going through. She didn't want her to have to suffer like she had with Cruxis. No one seemed to care that she was in danger as well. Suddenly, someone sat down beside her. She figured that it was her father and she moved away from him in an attempt to hide her tears.

"Storm...," Yuan called to her soothingly as he touched her shoulder.

Storm looked up at him in amazement. The two of them hadn't been together in so long, but there was an undeniable connection between the two of them still. Storm couldn't hold it back anymore as she threw herself at him burying her face in his chest as she began to cry.

Zelos watched from a distance as he saw his wife being comforted by the man who had once almost stolen her from him. He could see that they were becoming close again and he wondered if he was really what she needed. He decided to let Yuan take care of her as he walked back to camp.

"Don't worry, we'll get her back, I promise," Yuan told her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she cried into his chest. Yuam had no idea that Storm was apologizing for what was going to come instead he believed that she was sorry about her outburst. It was only a matter of time before he understood the truth. Storm knew what had to be done.

* * *

Well, that's the end of this chapter. In the next chapter there will hopefully be some fighting as the group enters the fire seal to get another shard. We'll see how that works out. Anyway, thanks for reading, please please review. Thanks! 


	11. Chapter 11: In the Dragon's Den

Okay, next chapter is here everyone. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, I know that I am. I think that everyone will be on the edge of their seat by the end of this first story, but that's why we have another story after this one. This is the Dark Age series. I actually know that there will be three stories in this for sure, maybe four. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 11: In the Dragon's Den

As the party made their way through the desert the next day, Storm mainly kept to herself. She figured that everyone was probably upset with her about her outburst the other day and she didn't want to upset them anymore, especially Lloyd. It didn't matter anymore what they wanted anyway, Storm was going to take this into her own hands anyway. They were getting closer to the Fire Seal and she just wanted to find the shard and move along to the next one. Suddenly, Lloyd made his way to the back of the group so he could talk to Storm while they traveled. Storm wouldn't even look him in the eyes as she crossed her arms over chest and looked at the ground as they walked.

"Storm, about yesterday. I'm sorry, I know that I probably looked like a jerk. I really do want to find Anna, but if she gets the shards before us then she could kill her off anyway. This way we're ensuring her safety. Once we get the shards we can figure out some way to get Anna back safely. If we have the shards then she's at our mercy," Lloyd told her.

Storm thought about what he was saying. It made sense, but Anna's life was easier for Sutra to use as bait than the shards and Storm was afraid that if the group used the shards as bait Sutra would use Anna as bait as well, then they'd have a stalemate. She decided that what she was planning was the best way to go. But, she couldn't ignore the fact that Lloyd had actually thought of Anna and wanted to help her as well. She had to forgive him, even if he hadn't completely forgiven her.

"I'm sorry too, I must have seemed like such an ungrateful person. I have all these people who are out trying to rescue Anna and all I can do is complain. I'm sorry, you must hate me," Storm said sadly without once looking at Lloyd in the eyes. She still had memories of being beaten for looking someone in the eyes after angering them and she couldn't help but look down. Lloyd was quick to notice the way that she was acting, but didn't really know anything about the extreme of her past.

"Hey, I don't hate you. You know, I'm not on the ground, you can look at me," he replied happily.

Storm looked up slowly and saw that Lloyd was smiling at her, trying to get her to cheer up. Storm managed to give a weak smile to him, only to satisfy him.

"Sorry," Storm said.

"Don't start doing that. We don't need two apologizers on this trip. Colette is plenty for me to deal with. So I'll tell you once, 'You don't need to apologize dork,'" he laughed at her.

Storm couldn't help but laugh at this comment as she looked ahead to where the group was heading. She then noticed that the Fire Seal was just over the horizon. "Look, there it is. We're almost there," Storm told Lloyd excitedly.

"Wow, it hasn't changed at all even after all these years," Lloyd said in amazement.

"Well let's see if the shard is inside of the Temple or outside it," Sheena said as she began to chant. "I call upon the red giant, the ruler of hellfire! I summon thee, come Efreet!" Sheena called as Efreet soon appeared before the group.

"What does the pact-maker wish?" he asked her.

"Do you know where Mithos' Crystal shard is. We know that it's around here somewhere, but is it inside or outside of the ruins?" Sheena asked.

"Please say that it's inside," the Professor was muttering over and over under her breath.

"You just want to study the ruins!" Genis yelled at her before receiving a large lump on his head from his sister.

Efreet focused in on his energy for a few moments before answering Sheena's question. "The shard that you are searching for is inside of the ruins," he answered.

"Yes!" Raine cheered loudly. Genis just rolled his eyes, without opening his mouth, too afraid that he'd receive another beating.

"Well, I guess that means we get to head inside," Lloyd said confidently.

The rest of the group seemed ready to go inside as they followed the swordsman into the dark depths of the ruins. When they got inside they looked around and noticed that the temperature was increasing with every step they took. It was also getting brighter as they reached the center of the ruins. Once they were in the deepest part of the ruin they saw the lava that was flowing near the floors as the heat became even more extreme. The heat was so intense that it was almost unbearable.

"I don't remember it being this hot in here," Colette said to the rest of the group.

"Yeah, the last time we were in here, it was at least bearable," Genis added.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kratos told the group, causing them to watch their backs closely.

They were all looking all over the place for the shard so they could get out of the hot building. Suddenly, Presea's eyes caught something shining at one end of the room. She pointed to the sparkling gem as she shouted to the group, "It's over there!"

"All right, let's get it and get out of here," Lloyd replied happily as Storm, Kratos, Raine, and him ran for the gem, being closest to it.

"This is easier than I thought it was going to be," Storm said as she ran towards the shard. Suddenly, the room began to shake until the floor broke in front of them and a huge monster flew up. It crawled up from underneath the floor and slipped into the lava beside the piece of floor that was by the shard. Soon, it's head popped out from the lava and the group got a good look at it.

It was a huge dragon. The dragon was probably three men high and two men long and it had four red eyes that were staring at its prey. It had obviously taken care of all the smaller monsters that had once been in the ruins and it looked like it was ready for another meal. The dragon was red and its large claws scratched at the pavement in front of it as it attempted to pull itself out of the lava. Once it did get out of it, the group could see that it had a long tail with blade-like projections on the end of it. It swished its tail back and forth, knocking a few rocks down from the ceiling as it slammed into the wall. The dragon snorted, revealing that it could breath fire as fire and smoke came from it's nose and mouth.

"You have got to be kidding me," Storm said hopelessly.

"Get ready," Kratos warned the group as they pulled out their weapons as the others from the other end of the room began to slowly make their way towards the four that were confronted by the dragon.

"I'm ready," Lloyd said as he pulled his swords out in front of him.

Kratos, Lloyd, and Storm all ran in to attack the dragon as it watched, unafraid, as its prey moved towards it. Storm pulled back first as she began to chant an attack from farther away. Lloyd rushed up and dodged one of the dragon's claws as it slammed it down on the ground, causing the ground to shake. Lloyd took this opportunity to use his Heavy Tiger Blade attack as he slashed through the dragon, causing it to cry out in pain. Kratos then attacked the spot that Lloyd had hit with his Lightning Blade attack to cause double pain. Storm was just about ready to finish her incantation and she could tell that after Lloyd and Kratos' attacks she would have to finish it soon because the dragon was upset.

"I beg of you to reveal thy glory. Angel Feathers!" Storm called out as brightly colored blue wings sprung out from her back and the feathers flew out towards the monstrous beast. The attack; however only seemed to irritate it more as it scratched off the attack and saw Storm and Kratos standing next to each other. Before Storm and Kratos had time to figure out what was going on the dragon's powerful tail was flying at them and they couldn't avoid it. Storm could feel as the dragon's blades on its tail sliced into her as she and Kratos were thrown into a wall. Raine was rushing over to where the two of them after they didn't try to get up. The dragon, though, decided that it wanted to finish its prey off. That is, until it was hit from behind.

"Hell Pyre," Zelos called out as he attacked the dragon from behind, causing it to spin around to find its attacker. It glared at Zelos as their gazes met. Zelos began to evade the dragon as it prepared to launch a fire blast at him. He dragon took in a deep breath and let out a huge blast of fire that threatened to engulf Zelos. Suddenly, a wall of water stopped the fire as Zelos was surrounded by a thick cloud of steam. Once it had cleared Zelos looked over and saw Sheena standing next to Undine who was prepared to launch another attack.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?" Sheena asked as Undine unleashed another powerful water attack right at the dragon who reared back in extreme pain when it came in contact with the water. After it was hit it slithered back towards the lava and crawled into the molten substance.

Genis and Sheena both understood that water attacks would be most effective to defeat the monster. That is, until Sheena got an even better idea as she called out to Genis. "Hey Genis, launch your Tidal Wave attack. I have an idea," she said as she readied herself to summon another Summon Spirit.

Suddenly, the monster reappeared and Presea and Lloyd were back on the offensive as Raine attempted to heal the injured Storm and Kratos. They were both pretty much knocked out and were sliced up by the monster's massive tail. Presea rushed at the monster and attacked it with her Eternal Damnation attack as she slammed her axe into the ground before performing a somersault and slamming into the dragon again. This attack caused the dragon to actually fall over, showing Presea's true strength in action. Lloyd came up behind her, attacking the dragon with his Beast Sword Rain, while it was weakened. He stabbed the beast multiple times before finishing his attack with the power of his beast attack.

By this point the dragon was beginning to get tired and Sheena knew it. The dragon slowly got up and began to make its way toward the rest of the group which were standing near Genis and Sheena. Genis saw his opportunity and released his attack and Sheena began to chant. "Tidal Wave!" Genis called as the majority of the battlefield was flooded with water causing the dragon to almost collapse upon impact, but it just wouldn't give up. Of course, Sheena still had another trick up her sleeve.

"I call upon the hammer of godly thunder! I summon thee, come Volt," she yelled as Volt appeared in a flash of lightning. He immediately released a powerful spark wave of electricity at the now damp beast. The electricity ran through the dragon as it cried out in a shrill scream. It finally collapsed and began to vanish in an eruption of flames. Soon, all that was left of the monster were its ashes which soon were blown away.

The group all looked at each other, all badly shaken by the battle and some were injured by the attack, especially Kratos and Storm who were starting to finally come around. Storm painfully sat up and looked at everyone else, realizing that she had missed the rest of the battle.

"I really hope they're not all like that," Storm said.

"Ditto," Kratos said as he came up holding his head.

"Let's just get the shard and get out of here," Sheena said to Lloyd who walked over to the shining gem and picked it up and put it in his pack with the other one. They then left the scorching ruins to get some fresh, cool air. Then, they would have to move on to the next seal.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all liked the battle. I hope it wasn't too bad. Anyway, tell me what you thought. Review! Thanks for reading! 


	12. Chapter 12: Island of Terror

Okay, it's update time. I really hope that everyone is enjoying this story. I'm glad that you all enjoyed the fight scene, it had been awhile since I wrote one and I was worried that I couldn't write one anymore. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and enjoy the next chapter.

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Chapter 12: Island of Terror 

"We're going where!" Raine asked her voice trembling a bit after hearing what Lloyd had just announced to the group.

"To Thoda Geyser, that's where the water seal is, right?" Lloyd asked, wondering if his memory was serving him right.

"Yes, but do we really have to?" Raine asked hoping that the group would change their minds.

"Raine, we either go there and get the crystal or Sutra will get it for us," Sheena told her angrily.

Raine sighed loudly and finally looked at the group. "Okay, as long as we don't have to ride in those horrible wash tubs again," she explained.

"But those were so much fun!" Colette chirped only to get a glare from the Professor.

When the group reached Thoda Dock they realized that the business that had rented out the wash tubs had been destroyed completely and that no one was to be found. They then realized that they would have to figure out how to get to the geyser on their own.

"Well, it doesn't look like we can get there. We all can't fly," Genis said sadly.

"Hey, we still have the EC from when we all traveled around Tethe'alla," Lloyd said as he pulled the EC from his pack.

"Lloyd that's brilliant," Sheena exclaimed, a little shocked that Lloyd had even thought about bringing it along about as much as she was shocked that Lloyd had actually thought of using it.

"Really?" Lloyd asked her as his eyes lit up at the compliment.

"Hm...he must not hear that too often," Genis mumbled before being hit on the head by both Raine and Presea causing him to hold his head in pain.

"Well, all aboard!" Lloyd called as he released the EC from the pack as they all willingly climbed on board, except for Raine of course who Yuan and Kratos had to drag on.

There was no one on the small island as they walked off the small boat after a short ride. It was very quiet and peaceful without the usual amount of tourists walking around. It was eery to the entire group. The only sound that could be heard was the occasional hissing of the geysers.

"I call upon the maiden of the mist. I summon thee, come Undine," Sheena called, breaking the silence, as Undine appeared in a thick mist.

"What does the pact maker wish?" she asked Sheena.

"We are looking for the shards of Mithos Yggdrasil's Cruxis Crystal. Do you sense a piece nearby?" Sheena asked.

Undine stood still for a moment as she focused her energy to sense where the crystal, soon she looked back at Sheena with an answer.

"The Crystal is in the geyser," Undine announced to the group.

"In the geyser! How are we supposed to get something that's in boiling hot water? This is getting harder and harder," Storm complained.

"I'm surprised that it's still intact after sitting in there for so long," Kratos pointed out.

"There is obviously a lot of power contained in the crystal," Presea concluded.

"Well, that's nice and all, but how are we supposed to get it out. I know that I'm not about to jump in," Zelos told the group.

The group soon decided to think over the options as they sat around the small island. Lloyd was sitting by the geyser as he looked inside and threw rocks into it as he thought over what their next plan of action would be. One rock that he threw in made a large what looked like a ripple or bubble that came up out of the water and spread across the water. Lloyd looked at it curiously, trying to decide what he was looking at when he suddenly saw a set of eyes looking at him from under the water. Lloyd's eyes got huge as he ran off of the cliff that the geyser was on. The rest of the group looked at him strangely until they saw what he was running from. A large explosion of water erupted from the geyser and the group saw a large squid come out from under the boiling water.

The squid was a dark purple color and stared at them as he pulled out all of his legs, one of which was holding onto a small shard of a crystal.

"There's the crystal," Genis yelled as he pointed at the gem just as the creature placed it on a small ledge as it prepared to attack whoever was responsible for waking it up.

"Not again," Storm sighed as she pulled out her sword.

* * *

"So how are you doing with those angel powers?" Sutra asked Anna as she returned to Derris-Kharlan from her visit with Storm. 

"Well, I can at least control the wings now," Anna replied. "Why didn't Mom and Dad show me how to do this, it's not like it's that hard to learn."

"Well, I guess they didn't think that you were ready for the power. They wanted it all for themselves," Sutra suggested.

"They would do something like that. It's so unfair, I can't believe that they don't trust me," Anna complained.

"Do you want even more power Anna?" Sutra asked the young girl a small smile forming on her face.

"Yes, I love the way it feels flowing through my veins. I'll prove to my parents that I am strong enough to control large amounts of power. I'll teach them why they shouldn't hide anything like this from me," Anna answered as she stared at her own angel wings.

"If we revive Mithos he'll grant us even more power and teach us to control it to its maximum potential," Sutra promised her.

"I can't wait, I'll do whatever it takes to help revive him," Anna told Sutra.

"I know, but we have to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike," Sutra laughed as she could see her plans unfolding perfectly in front of her.

* * *

"This is my kind of fight," Yuan said as he brought out his large Double Saber and prepared to fight the large monster. 

"Make sure it doesn't drag you into the water, it would all be over if you end up in there," Raine warned them all.

Storm, Yuan, Kratos, and Colette all brought out their wings and began to fly around the large squid, dodging its multiple tentacles as Lloyd, Presea, and Sheena all went towards its body as it was distracted to attack it.

"Lightning Blade," Kratos and Yuan both yelled out as they went in and attacked the squid which reared back as the shock was intensified by the water that it was covered with.

"Beast!" Lloyd yelled as he flew into the monster with a large amount of power behind his sword.

"Pyre Seal!" Sheena yelled as she threw the magic of one of her cards at the squid causing it to knock backward from the blast.

'Eternal Damnation," Presea said calmly as she flew her axe at the monstrous beast, slicing off one of it's arms in the process. The monster was not too happy with all of the attacks coming at him at once, especially the loss of one of his appendages. It began to fling itself around, trying to grab onto anything or anyone that got in its way. Everyone ran or flew off trying to dodge the many tentacles that flew all over the place. Everyone seemed to be safely back when they all noticed that someone was missing from the group.

"Hey, let her go," Zelos cried to the beast as he saw Storm dangling from one of the tentacles as she attempted to fly away but was getting no where. The squid, seeing that it had actually managed to catch something began to make its way back into the scalding water.

"We have to get her before it goes inside, she'll boil to death in there," Kratos yelled to the others. Fortunately, Genis was way ahead of them. He had just finished a spell.

"Air Blade," he yelled as wind thrusts knocked the beast around causing it to almost drop Storm before pulling her into the water, but it still managed to hang onto her. Genis would have used his Lightning attack but he was afraid that he would Storm even more.

The squid, realizing that someone was after his freshly caught prey decided to take care of her without any more hesitation as he lifted his tentacle up and brought it to its mouth underneath its body. Storm had no time to react as she was shoved into the large mouth and she was gone.

"No!" Zelos screamed as he ran up to the monster before being held back by Genis and Kratos who wanted to prevent someone else from becoming dinner for the monster.

Yuan brought back his giant Double Saber and ran up to the monster with no one around to hold him back, he was going to get revenge on the squid and no one would stop him from doing it. Suddenly, the squid began to act as if something was going very wrong. It swaggered back and forth as it attempted to get back towards the water but wasn't making it very far very fast. Finally, the monster exploded into many pieces of squid all over the place, raining over the field. Storm was standing where the squid once stood, completely unharmed, but covered in slime and guts.

Zelos ran towards Storm to make sure she was okay. He was about to hug her until he realized that she was covered in squid juices. "How did you get out of there?" he asked.

"I just used my Outburst attack a couple of times, but I would have reather gone down in the geyser than get covered in this stuff," Storm replied as she tried to get the slime off of herself.

"Well, at least there's a lot of water around," Zelos laughed, but Storm wasn't laughing with him.

"I am _not_ fighting the next monster," she said as she began to make her way to the water back by the dock.

While Storm got cleaned up from after the fight, Kratos flew over to where the squid had left the crystal and took it to Lloyd who was beginning to get a collection in his pack. Then, they were off to find the next seal.

* * *

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope that you liked it. I was wondering if you guys think that there should be a crystal at every seal or if they should only at some of them. If there are less we get to the ending faster, but don't worry because there's another two stories, at least, in this series. Anyway, thanks for the input on this, it would be helpful. Well, review and tell me what you think about this and what you thought about this chapter. Thanks for reading! 


	13. Chapter 13: Intuition

Okay, it's time for an update. I think that everyone will find this chapter pretty interesting, I hope. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Well, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 13: Intuition

The group was making their way towards the Balacruf Mausoleum to look for the next shard. They figured that Sylph would be able to find the shard if it was anywhere nearby. Storm was in the back of the group and was not planning on taking part in the battle unless they all seriously needed her help. She was tired of getting the blunt of every blow from every monster and she decided that she would take a break. Zelos came up to her and walked alongside of her.

"Storm, you haven't been acting quite normal lately. Did you ever think that the reason you're doing worse in battle is because you haven't been sleeping as well? Plus, you always seem distracted all the time," Zelos asked her.

"I'm fine," Storm lied to him. She hadn't been sleeping well as of lately. She kept dreaming about Yggdrasil every night and would wake up and be unable to go back to sleep. She wasn't eating much lately either, she had very little appetite. Her mind was on too many other things and short on sleep so she never focused on eating too much. With all of this going on she was starting to slip up. This wasn't like the other times when she couldn't eat or sleep, this time it was affecting her, she needed to sleep and eat.

"I'm worried about you, I notice when you get up at night, every night," Zelos told her after seeing straight through her lie.

"I'm fine Zelos, really," Storm told him firmly, her voice was starting to show her growing irritation. She wanted to be left alone, she didn't want anyone to worry about her, she could take care of herself.

Zelos was taken aback by her harsh response and decided to leave her alone. "Okay, but if you need anything you know you can talk to me," he told her as he walked faster to catch up with the others in the front of the group.

Finally, the group arrived at the mausoleum and saw that it, like the other seals was vacant of any people. Everyone looked to Sheena as she went to call out the Summon Spirits.

"I call upon the heavenly messengers. I summon thee, come Sylph," Sheena called as the three Summon Spirits appeared before Sheena and the others.

"Do you sense a shard of Mithos' Cruxis Crystal around here?" Sheena asked them.

The three of them all focused their energy for a few moments before looking back at the pact-maker.

"We're sorry, but we can't sense anything around here," Sephie replied as the other two nodded their heads sadly in agreement.

"Oh, well thanks anyway," Sheena replied as the three disappeared once again. Sheena turned back to the group who realized that they would have to travel farther to find another shard.

"Oh sure, when I decide that I'm going to take a break, there's no shard for me to fight for," Storm complained.

"Storm, if you don't stop complaining, I'll come back there and make you stop," Kratos threatened as Storm immediately shut her mouth but continued to sulk.

* * *

"Why are we going to this place, there's nothing out here?" Anna complained to Sutra who was flying next to her as they slowly landed in the middle of a small valley buried in the mountains. Two Rheihards also flew down from behind them, each containing a Desian soldier.

"We're going here because I know that there's a shard here," Sutra explained to her, trying to keep her calm with the snotty girl.

"How would you know something like that?" Anna challenged her.

"Because I understand a lot about Mithos and I know that this would be an important place to him, so his shard would come here," Sutra shot back angrily before composing her calm exterior again. She was getting to really hate Storm's daughter and almost wanted to kill her off just to be rid of her. She figured that she'd be doing Storm and Zelos a favor by doing so.

After the Desians hopped off the Rheihards, they joined Anna and Sutra as the four of them walked to the other side of the valley. At the other end they saw a giant Linkite Tree that had been planted there. It was the last of its kind and Sutra knew the importance of it to Mithos. He had once had a flute that was made from a Linkite Tree and this was the last one in the world. Sutra walked over to the tree and began to search around for what she was searching for. She couldn't find it anywhere and she couldn't understand why. Her intuition had led her here and it had never let her down before.

Anna was walking around and checking out the scenery more than she was looking for the shard when she suddenly tripped on something. She was about to turn around and see what rock or twig she had just tripped on when she heard a low growling from behind her. She slowly turned her head to see that she had tripped on a sleeping wolf that was not happy about being woken up, especially by trespassers. She also saw that behind the wolf, up against the tree was the crystal shard and she realized that it was guarding it.

Just as Anna was about to try and make her escape the wolf lifted its head towards the heavens and began to howl to its fellow pack members. Anna took this opportunity to get off of the ground as she sprinted as fast as she could to get some distance between herself and the wolf.

The wolf was quick to notice that it's prey had run off as it swiftly jumped to its feet and ran after Anna. It caught up to her quickly and pounced at her to bring her down. While it was in mid-air it was killed instantly as an arrow flew threw its heart, bringing it to the ground. Anna stopped and looked over at Sutra who had her now empty bow aimed right where the wolf was.

"Grab the crystal before the others arrive," Sutra told her as she heard the wolves howling and growling growing louder each second. Sutra readied her bow for more attacks as Anna slowly stumbled back to where the shard was. She was too slow though and the wolf pack appeared over the hills. They all saw that their fellow had been killed by one of these intruders and they were ready to get back their revenge.

"Get that damn crystal!" Sutra yelled at Anna who grabbed at the gem and opened her wings quickly to get out of the way.

The two Desians came behind Sutra and pulled out their swords, ready to defend their leader. There were about four wolves and Sutra was ready for them. One flew at her baring its teeth as it jumped for her throat. Sutra quickly released her arrow and managed to hit the wolf in the side, but didn't kill it. It yelped as it landed on its side but soon jumped up with an arrow in its side as it tried to go after one of her soldiers instead.

Another wolf flew at Sutra while her back was turned and managed to pin her to the ground. It prepared to end her life quickly with its massive fangs, but it was suddenly flung off of her by a powerful blast of mana. Sutra looked to where the blast had come from and realized that Anna had used a Leonasium attack. She couldn't believe it. Anna had managed to use her angelic powers, powers that were similar to Pronyma.

"It's about time you learned how to do that," Sutra said as she readied her bow and pointed it right at the now stunned wolf. She focused her energy before calmly saying, "Thunder Arrow." The arrow began to spark as she released it at the wolf, striking it right in the heart, killing it almost instantly.

Meanwhile, the Desian soldier was still taking on the injured wolf and was beginning to gain the upper hand as the wolf became weary from loss of blood from his injury. Finally, it was finished off as the soldier managed to land his sword in the wolf's stomach as it's insides began to fall from it and it collapsed. It had no more energy left and slowly closed its eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

The other two wolves, seeing what had happened to their comrades decided not to mess with the strangers anymore as they ran off. Sutra watched them run off and sighed loudly, happy that she had gotten her prize. Anna handed the shard to Sutra who held it up to her eyes to gaze at it.

"We're getting so close now Anna. Soon, Mithos will be back and we can end the discrimination forever," she said happily as she opened up her wings to get back to Derris-Kharlan.

* * *

Well, that's it here. I hope that you liked this chapter. I don't think that they will be traveling to all of the seals, but we'll be all right with that, right? Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and please don't forget to review this chapter. Thanks for reviewing. Oh, and thanks for getting to 100 reviews! This is so awesome, thanks to everyone who's reviewed. You guys are so awesome. Well, until next time! 


	14. Chapter 14: Something There

Okay, it's time for an update. I hope that you're all enjoying this story. I had a few more ideas today but they're for later in the story, but you'll find out about that later. I think you'll be surprised with the end of this story. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 14: Something There

The group had traveled towards the Tower of Mana in hopes of finding another crystal shard, but when they arrived there they realized that it would be easier for them to summon Aska and Luna before they arrived. So, once the tower was within sight Sheena summoned the two spirits. The group then knew why it was such a good decision to summon them earlier when the two informed the group that there was no crystal in or neat the Tower of Mana.

"Well, that saved some walking time," Genis pointed out as he tried to cheer the group up a little as they began to make their way towards the Earth Temple on the Tethe'alla side of Symphonia.

The group walked for the rest of the day and after getting close to the temple they decided that they would walk the rest of the trip the next day. They set up camp and had dinner, compliments of Genis. As soon as dinner was over Storm walked away from the rest of the group by herself. Zelos had been nagging at her lately as she was tired of him always checking up on her and trying to get her to sleep or eat more. She wanted to be left alone, she didn't want anyone to worry about her, she was fine.

Zelos was sitting by a small fire that he had built by him at the top of a hill he was sitting. He could see everyone in below from the hill. He saw the group of friends hanging around by another fire, laughing and having a good time, and then there was Storm, sitting by herself lost in thought. Zelos sighed as he looked at his wife, wondering what could be troubling her. He knew that he couldn't help her anymore, for some reason he was unable to talk to her like he used to. Suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes staring at him as he stared back towards the larger group and met eyes with Yuan. Zelos thought for a moment before realizing what he had to do, he knew what was best for Storm. He waved Yuan towards him and the man responded to his gesture as he began to make his way up the hill.

When Yuan came over he sat down next to the red-head and looked at him. Zelos was going to have a hard time with what he was going to do, but he knew it was best for his troubled wife. He couldn't look at Yuan, his outgoing personality suddenly left him. Instead he decided to stare at the small fire burning in front of him as Yuan followed suit. Finally, Zelos sighed and began to speak.

"Yuan, have you noticed Storm's behavior lately?" he asked him.

"Well, she's been a lot less social," Yuan replied.

Zelos' eyes watched the dancing flames as he picked up a small twig on the ground and began to break small pieces off and toss them into the fire, causing it to jump a little. "She's been fighting so badly because her mind is somewhere else. She doesn't eat as much and she can't sleep because of these horrible nightmares about Mithos that she has," Zelos told him. "I'm worried about her, it can't be healthy for her. She's going to get hurt soon."

"You're right, she's letting everything get to her. She thinks it's all her fault," Yuan told Zelos.

"That's Storm. She always puts the blame on herself," Zelos told him.

"So, what do you propose we do?" Yuan asked him.

"Well...I was thinking...maybe...you could talk to her," Zelos strained to say. He had a hard time asking this man to help his wife. He felt as if there were no one else for her to talk to and he only wanted her to be happy again. He realized that there would be a point in time when he would tell her to leave him and she would most likely leave with Yuan. He had to start thinking more about this and getting ready for it, no matter how hard it was for him. He only wanted to see her happy. He wouldn't want to be with an old woman, so why would she want to be with an old man?

"You want _me_ to talk to her?" Yuan asked, quite shocked by Zelos' decision.

"Yes, I already tried to talk to her, but she won't say anything, she only pushes me farther away. Maybe she'd talk to you," Zelos told him.

"I'll try and see what I can do," Yuan assured. "And don't worry, you can trust me," Yuan told him after seeing his worried face.

"I know, and I think it would be best to talk to her when everyone else is gone, I think that she might relax a little more," Zelos told him, knowing that the rest of the group sometimes made her nervous and a little more self-conscious.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," Yuan told him as he patted him on the back. Zelos and Yuan were finally able to befriend each other after all those years. They had finally realized that they were both working towards making Storm a happy person.

"Thank you," Zelos told him as Yuan got up and headed back towards the others at the other fire. Zelos looked down at Storm and looked at her sadly as he was able to sense her pain.

"I hope that I'm doing the right thing," Zelos muttered to himself as he got up to put out his small fire before going to bed.

* * *

The next day the group received their news from Gnome that there was a crystal inside the Earth Temple. Storm was the first to speak up at this news.

"You can all go inside because I think I need a break from all this fighting stuff. I'm still trying to get the smell of squid slime out of my clothes," she said as she sat down right where she was.

"Well, we're not going to leave you alone here," Raine told her.

"I'll stay with her," Yuan told the others as he looked at Zelos who nodded to him signaling his approval. Kratos glared at Yuan who saw his look and understood what the threatening stare meant and he took it to heart.

"Well, I guess we'll be back then," Sheena said as the others walked off towards the temple.

About ten minutes went by before either Storm or Yuan decided to speak. It was a very awkward situation for the both of them, but finally the silence began to drive the two crazy.

"So, why did you decide to stay?" Storm asked Yuan, wondering what his real motive was for hanging around her.

"I was worried about you being by yourself besides I didn't really want to fight another monster," Yuan told her.

"I am quite capable of taking care of myself thank you very much," Storm said angrily. She had a feeling that Yuan was really staying around for something else and she wanted to know why. "So, why are you really here? You know damn well that I can defend myself just fine."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you," Yuan finally gave in. "You haven't been acting the same lately. You don't socialize with anyone anymore. It's like you're afraid of someone or something. It's like you're trying not to get too close to anyone," Yuan said.

"That's the problem, I'm already too close to them. If there's one thing that I haven't forgotten, it's how Lord Yggdrasil told me not to trust anyone too much, it only leads to pain. Maybe you should try that to, don't trust _anyone,_" Storm told him. She figured that if she betrayed the group and he decided to kill her she could get out of the deal with Sutra and Mithos couldn't be revived. If she wasn't around, then there wasn't a reason why Anna would have to be held hostage, she'd be nothing to Sutra.

"Don't talk like that. You know better than to listen to what Mithos taught you. I thought you had gotten over all of this," Yuan said desperately.

"Some things can never be forgotten, and my childhood is one of those things. I would love to forget everything, but I can't I never will be able to," Storm told him.

"What is it that you're so afraid of!" Yuan finally yelled at her, tired of trying to beat around the bush.

"You wouldn't understand," Storm said stubbornly as she faced away from him. Yuan wouldn't take this as an answer as he grabbed her shoulders and faced her towards him to look at him. She struggled a little against his grasp but soon accepted it.

"I would if you just told me," Yuan replied. "Why don't you trust me anymore?" he asked her softly.

"It's not like that, I just don't want to hurt you," she explained to him as she looked away from him.

"Why would you hurt me. You're hurting me already by not telling me what's bothering you," Yuan shouted at her.

"I can't...," Storm whispered as a her eyes began to well up with tears.

Yuan then realized that he wouldn't be able to help her or find out what was wrong. She was too stubborn with this issue and she wasn't about to budge for anyone. He let her go as she moved away from him wanting to be alone for the rest of the day.

When the group arrived back from the temple Storm and Yuan came up to them to see how they had faired. Lloyd held up the shard and Storm's eyes gazed on the crystal, knowing that with it she was one step closer to rescuing her daughter. Yuan walked over to the side with Zelos to talk to him.

"Well, how did it go?" Zelos asked him impatiently.

"Not too well, she's as stubborn as ever. She's not going to tell anyone, but she's definitely being bothered by something. I tried as hard as I could," he told him.

"That's all right, she come around eventually," Zelos said confidently, but secretly he feared that Storm would never actually tell them what was wrong, that is until it was too late.

Meanwhile Storm was still talking with the others in the group. "So, what was the monster like this time?" she asked them, wanting to know exactly what she had missed out on.

Sheena and the others avoided eye contact with Storm for a few moments as they stared at each other nervously.

"Well...," Storm said, her patience beginning to run short.

"You see...there wasn't any monster there. We walked in, looked around for a while, found the crystal, picked it up, and left," Sheena explained to her, hoping that she wouldn't explode too badly.

"What! You mean that I go through all kinds of stuff to get these crystals and when I finally decide that I'm going to take one break, there's no monster. This is ridiculous!" Storm yelled.

The others laughed at her, but Yuan and Zelos knew that inside her outgoing, carefree mask Storm was actually depressed and suffering, they just wished that they knew of some way to help her.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. Wow! This is a lot longer than I thought it was going to be! Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter. I think it shows a little bit more of the angst and the drama, which I wanted more than the action. The action should be back in the next chapter so hold on. It's the Shadow Temple next so get ready. Anyway, tell me what you thought, reviews are very important to me. I think that there will be about eight to nine shard total for those of you who were wondering. The score is currently Storm: 4 Sutra: 2 So, that means that there's two or three left depending on what I want to do. I don't know, maybe I'll get another idea and there will be more. Who knows, anyway please review and let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading! 


	15. Chapter 15: Into the Shadows

Update time! Man, I was really emotional a few moments ago. I was watching my favorite show, American Idol, and Chris Daughtry was voted off. He should have won the whole thing. I can't believe that he left! I'm protesting and I'm gonna quit watching this show. They did the exact thing to Mandisa, it makes me upset. They announced it and I started to bawl. I don't know where it all came from. Anyway, here's the next chapter. If you're upset about this result too, quit watching it with me. I swear there is some higher authority in the business making the decisions, not the people who are voting.

* * *

Chapter 15: Into the Shadows

The group was beginning to get close to the Shadow Temple and they couldn't wait to get there. The sooner they got there, the sooner they got the crystal, and the sooner they could take a break from all their traveling. They were beginning to wear out. They had not slept in any sort of shelter in weeks. They had no running water and there were no more shops for them to restock supplies, they were all on their own.

As they came over a small hill they could see the temple in the distance for the first time. Sheena decided it was a good time to bring out Shadow and see if it was really worth their while to walk that far.

"I summon the envoy from the dark abyss. I call upon thee, come Shadow!" Sheena called as Shadow appeared in a dark cloud in front of the group.

"Shadow, can you sense Mithos' crystal shard by the temple?" Sheena asked him as Shadow focused his energy briefly to hunt for any trace of the shard. Finally, he looked to Sheena with his answer.

"...Yes...," was all he had to say before Sheena thanked him and he disappeared.

"Well, that's all I need," Storm said as she began to walk towards the temple in the distance. "Maybe this time it'll be an easy snatch too."

"I don't know, could we really get that lucky twice in a row?" Raine asked.

"It's always possible," Lloyd commented.

Zelos and Yuan were hanging around in the back of the group and were talking about the conversation Yuan had been having with Storm the other day. Kratos saw them behind the rest of the group and had something he wanted to discuss with Yuan. He fell behind the others to walk with the two of them.

"So Yuan, why were you so eager to stay with Storm the other day?" Kratos asked almost challengingly.

"We were just talking," Yuan defended both Storm and himself.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You better not have done anything," Kratos began but was cut off by Zelos.

"He's telling the truth. I asked him to talk to her. Something's been bothering her and she won't tell me what's wrong. So, I thought that she would be more willing to talk to Yuan. I thought that she considered what I was doing as nagging," Zelos told him.

"Really? I've been trying to figure out what's bothering her. I know that she's worried about Anna, but she was acting a little bit better before, but now she just seems like she's almost feeling hopeless and depressed. I hate seeing her like this," he told the other two. "So, what did she tell you Yuan?"

"Nothing, she wouldn't talk to me. She said I wouldn't understand," Yuan explained.

"I wish she'd tell so we could understand. We could help her," Zelos said sadly.

"Yeah, but she's stubborn and there's no convincing her on something she's already decided. That's why she has such a hard time with trusting people, because Mithos always told her not to," Kratos told them.

"I know, but maybe she'll come around," Yuan said, trying to boost their hopes a little bit.

They all soon arrived at the Shadow Temple as they began to file into the dark depths of the cave. They walked through and Storm began to get panicky in the dark. She could remember her dark cellar with Pronyma when she was younger and the dark cell she had been in when she was captured by Kvar (Return of the Queen). She ran back to Zelos and grabbed his arm as he reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She tried to make her way through as she conquered her fear of the pitch black surroundings.

They continued down the impossible darkness until they arrived at the area down by the stairs that led down to where they had reformed Shadow and formed the pact. Genis saw the crystal first as he went to grab it before something could happen. He was almost to it when a spear landed in front of him, just missing him. Genis stopped dead in his tracks as he looked up and everyone else followed their gazes toward the sight in front of them.

There in front of them was a small army of skeletons with what appeared to be a general of sorts. They were all eery skeletons that were wearing armor over their bones and were carrying a variety of weapons. Axes, swords, and spears were littered throughout the army.

"Man, I give up," Storm said as she pulled out her wings to prepare for yet another battle.

"If they're already dead, how can we defeat them?" Colette asked, the others looked at her wondering if she had actually asked a good question or if it was just another Colette moment.

"I guess we find out if we can," Lloyd answered her.

Presea and Storm were the first to rush into the battle as Kratos and Lloyd decided to stand back and see how the skeletons fought. Lloyd had really been watching Kratos' battle strategies more closely and was trying to imitate them more often to become more like his father. Storm and Presea decided to start the battle off strong as they both launched their Beast attacks at the front row of soldiers that attacked. When they hit them they flew into many separate bones that scattered all over the floor. Presea and Storm looked at each other with a look of shock on both of their faces.

"If they're this easy, we'll be done with them in no time," Storm said confidently.

"Yes," Presea agreed.

Suddenly, the bones began to shake as they slowly lifted off the ground and reformed the soldier, once again ready for battle. Storm and Presea, seeing that their physical attacks weren't going to work temporarily retreated.

"Colette's right. If they're already dead, how can we kill them?" Storm asked the others.

"Maybe we need to attack them differently," Raine offered the idea.

"Like what?" Lloyd asked as the army began to make their way ever closer.

"Sheena, get Luna," Raine called to the ninja.

"Got it!" Sheena replied. "I call upon the light of the heavens. I summon thee, come Luna!" Sheena called as Luna appeared in a flash of light, blinding most of the skeletons into a temporary paralysis. Luna went over towards the skeletons and a powerful explosion of light causing some of them to disintegrate.

The rest of the army didn't seem to care much about the loss of their comrades as they kept making their way towards the others. Storm brought out her sword just in time to clash with that of another sword a skeleton was wielding. Storm then was about to be attacked from the side by another skeleton, but was defended by Lloyd who wouldn't let him get his spear into his sister. Storm and Lloyd continued their fights as they began to fight several of the soldiers at once and soon Zelos, Yuan, Kratos, and Presea got into the fighting as the others tried to come up with some sort of plan.

Suddenly, Raine got an idea. She called to Storm and Kratos in the middle of their brawl.

"You need to use Judgement and let the light rain down upon all of these soldiers, that should defeat them all," she told them.

Kratos looked at the situation they were in. He looked up at Storm and knew that only one of them could really leave the battle. If both of left to chant, the others wouldn't be able to handle the immense numbers of skeletons on their own.

"Storm, cast Judgement, I'll hold these guys off for you," her father ordered her.

"Okay," she answered, knowing better than to disagree with him.

She flew up above the battle and began to chant. She was trying to gather up her energy for her attack, but for some reason she wasn't feeling anything. She didn't have enough energy to cast the spell. Between not eating enough, not sleeping enough, worrying about Anna, and spending all day traveling she was getting drained of her energy.

"Sacred powers, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupted souls. Beware sinners. Judgement," Storm cried but nothing happened and Kratos could tell. He looked up at Storm and called to her again.

"Get back down here and help them and I'll do it," Kratos told her. Storm flew down almost unwillingly as she took over his spot. Kratos flew up above the others and began to chant.

"Sacred powers, cast thy light upon these corrupted souls. Beware sinners! Judgement!" he called as the temple began to shake as bright and powerful light rays began to fall from the ceiling. The skeletons were either hit by the rays or saw the bright light it emitted, but either wat it disintegrated them. Kratos came down and landed at the crystal shard and picked it up, handing it over to Lloyd who placed it in his pack.

"What happened Storm?" Kratos asked when he got a chance outside of the temple.

"I don't know, I guess I just didn't have enough energy. Too much walking maybe," she told him, trying to hide why she'd really be that tired.

"Well, maybe you should sleep some more to make sure that doesn't happen again," he advised her.

"I'll try. Sorry Dad," she said as he walked away, back to the fire with the others.

Later that night as the others were sleeping, Storm heard someone whispering her name in the darkness. She decided t try and find out what was going on. She was prepared for just about everything by this point in time and she pulled out her sword just to be safe. She looked back at the others sleeping peacefully as she tip-toed out of the camp to find out where the strange noise was coming from.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. I know, I'm leaving you with a cliffie. I tend to do that you know. You probably all hate me for it too. Well, that's it here. Tell me what you thought and please review. Thanks for reading. 


	16. Chapter 16: Against the Clock

Okay, it's time for an update. I know that everyone is waiting patiently after that last cliffie, but don't worry here's your resolve. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 16: Against the Clock

Storm walked slowly towards where the noise was coming from. She had her wings out, her sword unsheathed, and her defenses up. Finally, she saw her prowler come forward out of the darkness. Storm was very surprised to see Sutra standing in front of her once again. She wanted so badly to just rush at her and take her down then, but she knew that it was too risky of a move with Anna on the line. Storm kept her cool as she watched Sutra walk slowly towards her with a sly grin on her face.

"What do you want now?" Storm asked her, her voice projecting a lot of irritation towards the half-elf.

"Now, what makes you think I'm here to try and get something else from you? I just wanted to know how your shard hunt is coming along. How many have you collected for me?" Sutra asked her with a little chuckle thrown in at the end.

The way that Sutra toyed with her and her cocky attitude made Storm's blood boil as she tried to contain her anger. "We have five so far," she reported.

"Well, we have two so there's seven so far," Sutra thought out loud. "This is great, that means there's only one left and I know where it is," Sutra told Storm who looked up at her, shocked that she knew where the last one was.

"Where is it?" Storm asked cautiously.

"It's in Heimdall, the village of elves. This is why I need you. Even with my great army we cannot penetrate the walls of Heimdall. After having their city destroyed more than once they decided to up their security. Now, their elven magic is too strong for even mmy army to penetrate through. The elves know and trust you and I'm sure that they would let you in. Now, I'm starting to get impatient for these crystals," Sutra told Storm.

"I'm working as fast as I can," Storm defended afraid that Sutra could do something terrible.

"I know, but I'm a very impatient person sometimes and I don't want to wait much longer. Meet me in Meltokio in three days with all of your crystals. With your soon to be six and my two we'll have them all. If you don't arrive with my crystals on time, Anna will be the one to pay, with her life," Sutra threatened.

"I don't think I can get them there that soon," Storm tried to protest.

"I don't really care what you think you can and can't do, just be there with those shards," Sutra demanded angrily.

"I will," Storm told her as she immediately ran back to the camp where everyone was still fast asleep.

When she got back she couldn't believe that this would be the last time that she would most likely see any of them. She didn't really want to look at them all, it was too painful for her. She wouldn't even get the chance to say good-bye. She had to leave that night and steal the shards from her own friends. Lloyd was on guard duty which meant he was sleeping. She saw his pack by his empty sleeping bag. Storm slowly crept over to her own sleeping bag and grabbed her own pack as she quietly walked over to his. She slowly replaced the shards in his bag with rocks so he wouldn't immediately notice that they were gone. She then slid the gems into her own pack and crept away from the camp. Before she left she took one last look at her friends, doubting that she'd ever meet them again. She drew out her blue wings as she took to the skies so she could get to Heimdall faster.

* * *

The next morning everyone woke up and realized that Storm had gone missing during the night. Lloyd was immediately asked if he had seen anything, but when he didn't answer everyone knew that he had slept through his shift. They looked all over the surrounding area, thinking that she went out somewhere early that morning. After about an hour and a half everyone gave up with the search efforts as they came to realize that Storm was gone and that they had to postpone their journey to look for her.

"Is this what she was so worried about? Was someone after her?" Zelos asked Yuan, worried that she had been kidnaped overnight.

"I don't think she was worried about someone being after her. I think she planned all of this," Yuan answered him.

"Why would she do something like this?" Zelos asked him, obviously having a hard time believing that to be true.

"Storm does some things that ewe won't understand unless we've walked in her shoes and I don't think anyone really can," Yuan pointed out.

"I just hope that she's safe," Zelos prayed.

Storm was getting close to Heimdall and she decided to walk the rest of the way there. She was beginning to show her fatigue as she could hardly fly any further from lack of energy. She landed on the ground and began to walk towards the city of elves. With every step she felt herself getting closer to the actual betrayal of her friends. She knew that this was the first step, but she gave herself up to Sutra that would be the final step. She would be marked a traitor for the rest of time and she really hoped that she was making the right choice. She hoped that she was doing the right thing not only for herself, but also for everyone else. She still thought that her life contained no worth so she didn't have a hard time deciding that her friends would all be much happier without her.

She was coming close to Heimdall now only a few more yards to the small swamp before it. She was beginning to feel her fatigue as she started moving a little slower. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up for, but she had to keep moving or she would lose Anna. She couldn't do that, so she just kept moving. She could see the entrance to the swamp, but it was heavily guarded. Storm was getting dizzy and she didn't feel quite like she could even make it to the entrance. Suddenly, she used up the last of her extra mana as she collapsed on the ground and her world went black.

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Uh-oh. It's another cliffie. Please don't kill me, I did update didn't I? Anyway, I will try to update this soon so don't freak out. Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review. 


	17. Chapter 17: The Last Shard

Okay, I decided that I should probably update this or else a large mob might show up at my door for leaving everyone in suspense. Anyway, here's the next chapter. This is the beginning of the ending. We're almost there. Enjoy!

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Chapter 17: The Last Shard

Storm woke up inside of a small house. She had no memory of what had happened as she looked around the foreign surroundings. She was trying to replay everything that had happened in her head. She wasn't getting much until she remembered Sutra. How long had she been out for? What if her time was up? What was going to happen to Anna? Storm leapt out of the bed as she frantically looked around the room for her pack so she could get out and find that last shard. She had to figure out where she was and what time it was.

Suddenly, a woman walked into the small house with a basket filled with fresh fruits and vegetables walked into the door and saw Storm frantically running around. The woman screamed and dropped her basket, the greens rolling all over the ground. Storm screamed back as her heart jumped from the surprise. Finally, the woman quit screaming as she realized who it was who was moving around. She held her hand up by her heart.

"You shouldn't scare an old woman like that," the woman said as she breathed heavily trying to catch her breath. The woman was wearing a long dress that was very large and ruffled around the bottom. It was a very old style of dress and appeared to belong a few centuries back in the past. She didn't appear to be extremely wealthy, but was rather more like a commoner. The woman appeared to be older and was in fact an elf. That meant that she was in Heimdall, but how did she get there? She had never actually made it there before she passed out.

"I'm sorry. I was just confused. I don't really know where I am or what really happened," Storm apologized, explaining her frantic behavior.

"Well, you're in Heimdall, village of the elves Ms. Wilder," the woman answered in a welcoming tone.

"How do you know who I am?" Storm asked.

"Well, you and your family are very well known around these parts. You're very welcome here so when someone found you completely passed out from exhaustion outside the village we had to take you in," the woman answered her.

"How long have I been sleeping for?" Storm asked hesitantly, afraid of what the answer would be.

"Well, you must have been very exhausted because you've been asleep for almost two days," the woman replied.

"What!" Storm cried out. "I have got to get moving or it will be too late."

"What are talking about?" the woman asked her.

"Oh...it's nothing really. If you don't mind asking, could I speak with the elder. It's very urgent," Storm pleaded.

"Why of course, he wanted to speak to you once you were up anyway. Just go up the road a way and it's the last house on the right," the woman advised her.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," Storm said as she grabbed her pack, helped the woman pick up her fruits and vegetables, and walked out the door.

Storm walked out into the bright daylight and looked around at the active village of Heimdall. She saw a group of young elves playing with a small ball. There was also a large crowd of women gossiping not too far away from their children as the watched them play. On the other side of the village was a group of men conversing about politics and other important business. As soon as they all caught a glimpse of Storm coming out of the house they all froze as their eyes locked on her. Storm cautiously began to walk through the town as fear crept over her as the countless number of eyes looked upon her. She had almost made it to the elder's house when one of the elves came up top her.

"Ms. Wilder, we're so pleased to see you back. You really should come more often we love to see you and your family. Are you feeling better now?" the man asked as Storm simply nodded in response.

After this, many others came around her, happy to see her and to see if she was doing well. Storm had to admit that whatever the elves had done for her, it made her feel one hundred percent better. She had all of her energy back and felt ready to travel again, but first she needed to find the crystal. Storm figured that the elder would know something about it as she walked into his small house, leaving the other elves waiting outside.

When Storm walked in she looked around the small building, but couldn't see any sign of the elder and wondered where he had run off to. Then, she saw something at one corner of the room that really caught her attention. She looked over as she saw a small piece of crystal sitting on a table with a glass case surrounding it. She knew that it was last shard, she could feel it. She slowly walked up to it and was prepared to take it. It wouldn't matter if they hated her for it. With her deal with Sutra she wouldn't be around for them to hate anyway. She slowly walked up to it and placed her hands on the glass and was about to lift up when she heard the sound of footsteps as she quickly backed away from it. She spun around to see the village elder in the doorway.

"Storm, it's good to see you up and moving. I assume that you are feeling bettter," he said to her confidently.

"Yes, much better in fact. Thank you for all your help," Storm thanked him.

"No problem, but may I inquire as to why you were around our village, especially with all the attacks going on recently?" the elder asked her.

"My companions are searching for Mithos' crystal shards and I was assigned to find the one that was thought to be held here. I see that you do, in fact, have it and I was wondering if I could have it," Storm explained to him.

"Why do you need it?" the elder asked suspiciously.

"Actually, Sutra, the woman launching these attacks against Symphonia wants them, that's why we're getting them. We want to make sure that she can't get them," Storm replied.

"If that's the case then aren't you making her job easier?" the elder ridiculed.

"Well, this way we have a chance to defend them," Storm explained. "So, what do you say, can I have it and be on my way?"

The elder thought it over for a few seconds before he came up with his answer. "I'm sorry Storm, but I cannot allow you to take possession of something of so much importance at a time like this," he replied.

"What! But you don't understand. I need that shard," Storm pleaded with him.

"I'm sorry," the elder apologized as he escorted Storm to the door with her answer.

"I'm going to have to think of a better way to get that," Storm muttered to herself.

Later that day Storm was waiting outside of the elder's house as she waited him to leave temporarily again. After hours of trying to be patient she was rewarded as the elder stepped out of his house to make his way around the village. Storm took this opportunity and carefully snuck into his house. She looked upon the glittering shard inside of the glass case once more, admiring its beauty as she really thought about what she was doing. Everything she was doing was totally against her character and she was having a hard time going through with it. Finally, she placed her hands on the glass and slowly lifted it up. She grabbed the shard inside and placed it inside her pack before setting the glass back into place. She carefully walked back out of the house, but was seen by someone in the village who pointed her out.

"What were you doing in there? That is off limits," someone shouted. Storm looked over and realized that everyone must have known what she was after and knew that she had taken it. Storm immediately began to run through the town as she evaded people coming at her from all over. Finally, she was able to find a spot where she could actually fly out of the city without worrying about hitting any tree branches. She flew out of the city with her prize in her possession.

"Shall we pursue her sir?" a guard asked the elder.

"No, Storm is not one who would steal just for her own personal gain. There is a good reason why she took that. She really does have a good heart, she just has a hard time showing it at times," the elder replied as he walked back to his home to confirm his and everyone else's suspicions.

Storm couldn't believe that she had managed to get away from Heimdall completely unharmed, and actually she felt better than when she had left her companions. She knew now that she would make it to Meltokio just in time. She could still save Anna.

* * *

"Well, Anna it's time that we go down to Symphonia once again. Your mother is bringing us the rest of the crystal shards and we're going to be able to bring back Mithos," Sutra said happily.

"Why is she coming? Is she working with us?" Anna asked, upset at the news.

"Well, we're going to convince her to work with us. You're going to bring her back to Derris-Kharlan by force," Sutra told her.

"How will I do that?" Anna asked.

"You're going to show her those new powers of yours," Sutra replied.

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Well, that's it for this chapter. I know, I left you all with yet another cliffie, kind of. Anyway I hope you liked it. We're getting close now. What's gonna happen at the end? What's everyone think? Well, anyway thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks! 


	18. Chapter 18: Mother and Daughter

Update time. I know that everyone has been anticipating this chapter for some time now, so I didn't want to leave you all waiting. Isn't this super appropriate for mother's day? Sarcasm, sorry... I can't wait for the end of this first story and everyone's reaction to it. Anyway, here's the next chapter. There are only one or two more chapters after this just to let everyone know.

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Chapter 18: Mother and Daughter

Storm couldn't believe that she had actually managed to get away with getting the crystal. It was only a matter of time before her friends found out what she had done and discovered that she was a traitor. It didn't matter anymore anyway, she would get Anna back, and soon she wouldn't have to face them. She looked over what was left of Meltokio as she waited for Sutra's arrival. She saw what was left of some of the shops and soon noticed her old house. It was in complete ruins, but Storm couldn't help herself as she walked across the pieces of buildings as she made her way to look at what was left. Storm dug through some of the pieces of the walls as she looked for anything that was left over from the destruction.

She lifted up some pieces and saw tattered remains of some of her family's possessions, but nothing that was really important to her. She couldn't find anything until she lifted up on slab of stone and saw something that she couldn't leave behind. It was the old storybook that her father had given her on her birthday before Anna had been born. Storm couldn't believe that it was still in good shape. It was a little tattered in places, but it was still usable.

Storm picked up the book tenderly as she held it to her chest. She had read the stories in this book so many times to Anna. She had loved them and Storm loved sharing the stories that Mithos, Yuan, and Kratos had once told her with her own daughter. Storm took the book and walked back over to a small, mostly clear area by her house and set it down.

"Maybe someone will find this. Maybe Dad and Zelos will find it," she said to herself hopefully as she placed the book on the ground. She then got another idea as she took off the necklace she had received from her father as she placed it on top of the book. "Now they'll know it's from me," she said.

Storm soon her wings flapping in the distance as she rushed back over to the central area of Meltokio to greet Sutra. Storm pulled the crystals out of her pack and prepared to give them to her enemy. Storm was not wrong in her assumption as she saw Sutra flying in the sky as she landed in front of her.

"Where is Anna?" Storm asked the half-elf.

"She's catching up, just be patient," Sutra told her.

"What are you talking about?" Storm asked, but soon realized the horror of what Sutra was talking about as she watched her daughter land behind Sutra with her own pair of dark crimson colored wings behind her.

"Anna, what have you done?" Storm asked looking over her daughter.

Just before Anna could answer her mother Sutra placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her from saying anything. "She doesn't need to answer to you quite yet," Sutra replied. "Now, where are my crystals. Give me the crystals and allow Anna to do as she pleases," Sutra said as she stretched out her hand to receive what she was looking for.

Storm took the bundle that was in her hand and looked at Sutra's offered hand hesitantly as she slowly placed it in her hand. Sutra snatched the pack and released her hold on Anna's shoulder.

"Okay Anna, you may do whatever you please. You can run off and find your friends or you can help me bring your mother back to Derris-Kharlan," Sutra told her.

"What? What are talking about?" Storm asked, whose eyes were moving between Anna and Sutra as she tried to comprehend the situation taking place.

"Come on Mom, let's go back to Derris-Kharlan," Anna told her.

"You said that she'd be free!" Storm yelled as she backed away from Sutra.

"I said that she could do as she pleases, this is what she wants to do. I still get you," Sutra told her.

"If that's the way that it's going to be then you don't get me," Storm told the two of them as she attempted to grab Anna and get out of there. Anna moved away from her and looked to Sutra.

"Take her by force," Sutra commanded as Anna looked at Storm and prepared to bring her to Derris-Kharlan.

"Anna, stop this right now. I won't fight you," Storm told her, trying to talk a little sense into the young girl's head.

Anna wasn't listening though as she used her Agarasium attack which caught Storm into a spiral of colorful light that threw her in the air and forcefully threw her back to the ground. The attack brought back bad memories to Storm who could still remember Pronyma's deadly attacks. Another memory came back to her as she went flying as Anna hit her with a powerful Leonasium attack. Storm slowly picked herself up from the ground as she made her way back towards Anna who was ready to launch another attack.

"Anna, why are you doing this? What's the matter with you?" Storm asked her daughter desperately.

"It's all because of you Mom. You never really cared about me, you kept all of this power away from me because you wanted it for yourself," Anna yelled at her mother.

"Anna, I kept that away from you because it's a curse to have. I did it to protect you," Storm explained.

"Protect me from what? All of this amazing power?" Anna asked her. "I understand you and I'll make sure you wish that you would have told me yourself," Anna threatened as she launched her Bloody Lance attack, causing a spear made out of dark mana to slice into Storm, throwing her down on the ground forcefully.

Storm refused to fight her own daughter as she tried to get up once again, but was knocked down again and thrown across the ground by her Dark Sphere attack which engulfed her in powerful dark magic. Storm felt as if she had hardly any energy left as she attempted to stand one more time. She hadn't defended herself once and was beginning to feel the effects. She couldn't believe that all of Anna's techniques were dark and rivaled those of her enemy, Pronyma.

"Finish her," Sutra commanded before Anna went to unleash her last attack, Prism Sword. Storm was surrounded by rays of light, enclosed within them until spears of light shot all around her cutting through her until she fell to the ground and didn't try to get up.

Sutra walked over to the now unconscious Storm and placed on hand on her neck to find a pulse. She slowly stood up and looked at Anna. "Good job, she's still alive. I must say that you've done rather well with your training, you will be an excellent student to Mithos," Sutra told her. She then went to life Storm's front end as Anna went for the back end as they lifted her up, unfolded their wings, and flew off for the Renegade base to return to Derris-Kharlan.

* * *

"Why would Storm run off like that and not tell us?" Genis kept asking the rest of the group.

"I don't know, but I know one place that she always feels at home at," Kratos told him. "Heimdall, I just know that she's in Heimdall," he told them confidently.

Their group stopped for a break not too far from Heimdall as they stopped at a relatively quiet wooded area with a small creek running through it. Lloyd sat down underneath a large tree as he went to grab some food out of his pack. Professor Raine was going to be cooking lunch and he decided not to risk it today as he looked for his meal. Suddenly, he realized why Storm had left so quickly and silently.

"Everyone, you should all probably get a look at the crystals," he told them.

"What's wrong with them?" Sheena asked almost threateningly.

Yuan was the first to make it over as he reached inside Lloyd's pack, pulling out what should have been crystal shards, but was actually a bunch of rocks.

"I can't believe that she stole them from us, what is she planning on doing?" Zelos asked, shocked by her rash actions. He didn't want to believe that she would do something like this to them, but in his heart he knew that she was capable.

"She's going to turn herself in to Sutra," Raine said softly. The others looked at her, knowing that the Professor's assumption was most likely true.

"Dammit Storm," Kratos said under his breath.

* * *

Well, that's it for this chapter. That's another wonderful cliffie. You know, I'm starting to get used to these things. I hope that you liked this chapter and I hope that you like the rest of this story too. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Sorry I haven't replied lately, I'll reply to a chapter eventually when I'm not quite so busy. I'm working on it. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks! 


	19. Chapter 19: All Hope Lost

Okay, it's time for an update. This is going to be a short chapter that leads into the next chapter, which is also the last chapter of this story. I hope you've all really enjoyed this story, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Now, enjoy the next chapter.

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Chapter 19: All Hope Lost

As the group made their way through Symphonia they were all unusually silent. They were still getting over the fact that Storm had betrayed them. Storm had betrayed them once before, but they thought that she was over that part of her life. They just couldn't figure out what her motives were exactly.

"Why would Storm want to steal the shards anyway?" Lloyd asked.

"Maybe she was trying to rescue Anna," Yuan offered.

"It seems likely with Storm," Kratos answered.

"Yes, but is that the only reason why she would steal them. Maybe there's more to it," Raine told them.

"What do you mean Professor?" Colette asked innocently.

"I mean, what if she's still loyal to Mithos after all these years, and now there's a way to revive him so why not help Sutra, especially since she also has her daughter," Raine explained.

"I can't believe that you don't trust Storm. I thought that you would have by now," Lloyd almost yelled at her, trying to defend Storm.

"I can't see her wanting to go back with him though," Zelos told the others.

"Why's that?" Raine asked, wanting to see if he could actually come up with something that would prove her theory wrong. She kind of doubted that he could though.

"Well, she never really wanted me to tell anyone, but she's completely terrified of him. She's always been afraid. She's woken up with nightmares about him, about her past and I can't see her wanting to go back to that," Zelos explained sadly.

"Well then, I say that she wouldn't go back with Cruxis. What if Sutra kidnaped her and stole the shards," Yuan offered.

"How would you kidnap Storm?" Raine asked challengingly.

"Well, she really hasn't been herself lately and has been kind of distracted when it comes to battling and I think that she's out of energy. If she was attacked with no one to help defend her, she could be easily defeated," he told them.

"Well, it seems logical, and I understand what Zelos is saying so I doubt that she would be working for Cruxis again," Kratos agreed. And with his statement the case was closed for the time being with Storm's reputation still in good shape.

They were making their way towards the Renegade Base to see if they could get to Derris-Kharlan before something terrible happened, when they passed by Meltokio, or what was left of it. Raine noticed a small group of people moving into the city and she decided that it might be a good idea if they all checked it out.

"Why do we need to see who's going in? Maybe people are starting to move back into the cities," Genis asked sadly.

"Because, it might be Sutra and her Desians with Storm, and we should check it out," Raine answered, her voice growing more and more agitated by her brother's constant whining.

As they moved towards the destroyed city, Zelos grew more and more nervous. He hadn't been back to the city since he and Storm left with the others and it brought back a lot of bad memories. When the city was being attacked he was so worried about the safety of his family, and now he was worried all over again. If something happened to Storm as well, he'd be all alone and he didn't know if he could handle that kind of guilt. They slowly walked into the city, keeping their guard up in case someone wasn't too thrilled to see them there.

Suddenly, Presea noticed the small group of people moving around a corner, behind a pile of rubble. She pointed in the direction they went as the group moved silently across the city towards the strangers. As they rounded the corner, Lloyd's group ran right into the other group. Both teams raised their weapons defensively, each waiting for the other to launch some sort of attack. Both were disappointed however as each group recognized the other and their weapons were lowered.

"You're elves from Heimdall. What are you doing here?" Raine asked them inquisitively.

"We should be asking you the same thing. Aren't you the Chosen's group?" one of the elves replied.

"Yes, we are. We're in here though, because we saw you all head in this way. We wanted to see what you were up to," Sheena told them, trying to get them to answer the question.

"You don't happen to know where Storm Wilder is, do you?" one of the elves asked. "We've been looking all over for her, despite our elder's wishes," he added.

"Why are you looking for Storm?" Zelos asked, beginning to grow worried.

"Well, she stole something very precious to us even after the elder told her not to. She ran off with it and we've been trying to hunt her down," one of the elves explained.

"What did she steal from you exactly?" Sheena asked nervously, afraid of the answer.

"She stole one of Mithos Yggdrasil's Cruxis Crystal shards," an elf told them.

"I told you that she was still working for them. If she wasn't then why would she do something like that?" Raine yelled at the others, trying desperately to get them to see her way. It became painfully apparent that Raine had never really fully trusted Storm after all these years and everyone was amazed at the way she was acting.

"I can't believe it," Zelos said as he began to feel his hopes crushed by the awful reality of what Storm had done.

"So, you don't know where she is either?" one of the elves asked.

"No, we're sorry," Genis replied.

"Well, we'll be on our way, she doesn't appear to be here," they answered as they walked out of the city to continue their search.

Zelos was still shocked by what he had just heard. He saw what was left of his house in the distance. He walked over to its remains as he sat down on a pile of rubble and buried his head in his hands and sighed loudly. Kratos saw him and walked over towards the man and sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"I really don't know what to say, I can't believe that she'd do it either," Kratos told him.

"I don't think she'd do it because she wanted Mithos back, but I don't know what else there is," Zelos commented as he looked up, but soon noticed something sparkling out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" Kratos asked as he saw Zelos looking at something and going over towards another area of the broken building.

Zelos bent down and picked up a book from the ground. He looked at it and couldn't believe what he saw.

"It's the book you gave Storm to read to Anna. She was here and she must have found it," Zelos told Kratos as he showed him the book.

Kratos took the book and held it in his hands, remembering when he'd given Storm the book, wanting to bring back those times so badly. It all seemed so far away now, even though it was merely thirteen years ago, a length of time that seemed to usually pass by in a mere second in Kratos' long life. He opened the cover of the book and saw something that made him almost break down into tears, but he managed to keep his composure. Inside was Storm's necklace that he had given her. He took it out and held it so it could sparkle in the sunlight. Part of the necklace had been hanging out of the top of the book, causing it to actually catch Zelos' eye in the first place. It had been placed there almost as if she had wanted them to find it.

"What does it mean?" Zelos asked Kratos.

"I think it means that we're too late," Kratos replied sadly.

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Well, that's it for this chapter, it was a little longer than I thought it would be. Don't forget the next chapter is the last one of this story, but there's another one after it so don't freak out. Anyway, tell me what you thought and review. Thanks for reading. 


	20. Chapter 20: The Dark Lord Returns

All right everyone, this is it. This is the last chapter of this story. Don't worry, there is another story after this one and it shouldn't take too long for me to write the first chapter of that one (cross your fingers). Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, or even just read. I couldn't do all of this without you guys so thanks is never enough. Thank you, thank you! Anyway, here's the last chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 20: The Dark Lord Returns

Storm woke up in a small chamber. She was laying inside of it and she could recognize the room that she was in. It was the same room where Colette had been taken to when Martel was temporarily resurrected. Storm was feeling very trapped where she was and she wanted out of her small prison as she began to bang on the walls forcefully. It all reminded her too much of her dreams and she wanted to make sure that the ending wasn't the same.

Suddenly, two figures walked into the room. She noticed that it was Sutra followed closely by Anna. Storm still couldn't believe that her own daughter had turned against her as she decided to try and talk some sense into her before it was too late.

"Anna, why are you doing this?" Storm asked her angrily as she continued to pound on the chamber.

"It's because of what you've done to me over these years that you're in there," Anna yelled back at her.

"I don't understand Anna," Storm called.

"Don't you get it yet? I hate you Mom! You've ruined my life. You kept all of this away from me on purpose, you didn't want me to more powerful than you," Anna told her viciously.

Storm was very taken aback by her harsh words. She felt the tears begin to well up in her eyes as she looked at her daughter in horror. She then understood. She knew that she had done a horrible job raising Anna and that she never should have kept secrets from her all these years. Storm began to think that she really did deserve what was coming. Storm looked around her a little more carefully as she tried to figure out where she was exactly. It then hit her as she realized that she was in the same thing that Colette was placed in when she became Martel's vessel.

"Do you like the little machine you're in Storm? It's the same one Mithos used to try and revive his sister. I've linked his crystal with this machine and reversed the process. Now your mana is going to the crystal," Sutra said happily as she gazed at the machine, picturing her dream becoming a reality.

"What about the angels up here? How did you get around all of them?" Storm asked.

"That was easy, they believe that Anna is the one who is now in charge, she defeated you after all. Now, she's the queen of Derris-Kharlan," Sutra replied with a small laugh.

Storm had given up by now, she knew that her end was near and that she had no choice in the matter. She could only hope that she didn't have enough mana or that the whole process wouldn't work. Either way, Storm was going to die unless she had enough mana to revive him. That is, unless there was a miracle.

"Well Storm it's time to start. I hope you had a good life because this is the end," Sutra told her as she walked over to the control panel. Storm looked at Anna one more time. She knew that she would have given her life for her daughter but she didn't expect Anna to hang around with Sutra anyway. It didn't matter, Storm would always love her daughter no matter how much Anna hated her.

Sutra pressed the switch that initiated the mana transfer process. Storm felt a wave of pain spread over her body as her energy was sucked out of her. Storm screamed out in pain as she felt as every nerve ending jumped in a shock of pain. The mana that was leaving Storm was moving up towards Mithos' crystal as it formed into one crystal. The mana then began to create his body. It started with his chest, where the crystal was attached, and moved out in a wave. Storm could feel her life beginning to leave her as she struggled to stay awake. She was afraid that if she knocked out it would all be over for her.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of excruciating pain to Storm she finally felt all the pain leave. The machine had stopped and she was still alive. She had almost no energy left and she sighed a bit of relief as she allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness letting the pain leave her.

Sutra looked upon the place where the crystal once laid as she looked at a small twelve year old boy. She hoped that it had worked completely, hoping that he was actually alive. She gazed at the boy as he slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He slowly got to his feet and looked around the room, quickly recognizing it. He then saw that there were two people standing below him as he used the power of his crystal to transform himself into the more powerful Lord Yggdrasil of legend.

"Who do I owe the thanks of my revival?" Yggdrasil asked his small crowd below.

"I am Sutra my lord and I have worked hard to revive you. This is Anna and she helped out as well. We wish to serve you to help aid the half-elves," Sutra said as she moved forward and bowed to him, soon followed by Anna who did the same.

Yggdrasil looked over the two of them. He noticed that Sutra was a half-elf herself, but there was something very familiar about the human girl.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Yggdrasil asked Anna as he walked closer to her.

"This is Storm's daughter. She wishes to work for Cruxis and she has proven to be quite faithful," Sutra replied for her.

Yggdrasil walked up to her and grabbed her chin as he looked at her face. "A full-blooded human I see. I suppose that means that Storm didn't marry Forcystus like I had planned for her. You do look like her though," Yggdrasil said as he released his hold on Anna. "What happened to Storm?" he asked, curious to see what had happened to his pupil.

Sutra pointed over to the small chamber that Storm was still in. Sutra had no idea if she was even still alive after all of that. Yggdrasil walked over to the chamber and opened it up and felt for her pulse. He could tell that she was still alive as he pulled her out of it and laid her on the ground. "That will be all, take the young girl away and leave me with Storm while I wait for her to wake up," Yggdrasil ordered as Sutra and Anna walked out of the room happily.

Some time later Storm slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. She could tell that she was no longer in the chamber, and realized that she had survived the mana transfer. Suddenly, she someone moving towards her, but she didn't have the strength to move to look at them. They figure walked in front of her to see. Storm went into a panic as she saw Yggdrasil looking her in the face with a smirk on his face.

"Storm, it's been awhile. Don't think that I haven't forgotten what you did to me. Believe me, I won't let you forget it either," he said as he kicked her violently in the side. Storm couldn't even defend herself as he continued to forcefully kick at her, causing her to cry out in pain each time. Suddenly, he picked her up by the front of her shirt as he pulled her off the ground to look him in the eyes. Storm's body lay limp as she was unable to move anything from lack of energy and fear of pain. Yggdrasil looked her over like he had done with Anna.

"You look the same as the day I died. You will live forever," he said. "Now, you won't defy me again, will you? I think you need a little bit of retraining though, it's been awhile," he told her with a laugh as he threw her across the room before leaving again as Storm lay in a clump on the floor.

Mithos left the room to find Sutra so he could catch up on everything he had missed out on. Sutra saw him and immediately went up to him after he waved her towards him.

"So, who all is still alive of the Chosen's group?" he asked her.

"All are alive including Kratos and Yuan," Sutra replied.

"And who is the child's father?" Mithos asked.

"Zelos Wilder, the Chosen of Tethe'alla," Sutra replied, almost disgusted at the thought.

"And what of the Desian Cardinals?" he asked her.

"All dead at the hands of the Chosen's group," Sutra answered sadly.

"Well, I think that taking away Storm's emotions is the wrong way to train her. It didn't work last time so I'll try something different this time. I believe that this time I'll use her emotions to control her. Before long she'll be at her friends and family's throats," he laughed. "I will get my revenge!"

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Well, that's it for this story. Well, I mean this isn't really a cliffie. Mithos is back Storm is under his control again, for now. And the rest of the group has no idea that she's even alive still. Anyway, let me know what you thought and get ready for the next section to this series. Be prepared, the next one will be really dark, kind of like Child of Cruxis. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought. 


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